Andy Roddick won his seventh tournament title on the PowerShares Series tennis circuit Thursday night defeating James Blake 6-3 in the one-set final of the Champions Challenge at the Siegel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. Roddick avenged his 6-3 loss to Blake from Wednesday night in Boston, his first loss of the year on the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30.
Roddick’s seventh title on the PowerShares Series extends his record for most PowerShares Series titles won in a season. The previous record was set by Pete Sampras, who won five titles in 2011. Roddick also increased his record for the year on the PowerShares Series to 14-1. He won the first six events he played prior to his loss to Blake on Wednesday in Boston, winning in Los Angeles on March 25, Lincoln, Neb., on April 2, Chicago on April 2, Austin, Texas on April 16, Little Rock, Ark., on April 17 and Dallas on April 18. Blake, in fact, is the only player to beat Roddick in his PowerShares Series career, also handing the 2003 U.S. Open champion his only loss during the 2014 season in the semifinals of Houston.
In the semifinal matches Thursday in the four-player event, Roddick defeated Todd Martin 6-3, while Blake defeated John McEnroe 6-2, in a rematch of the Boston final Wednesday, won by Blake 7-5.
Roddick remains in the lead in the PowerShares Series points rankings – taking a player’s best four tournament results during the season – with 1600 points, followed by Blake with 900 points, Mark Philippoussis and John McEnroe with 800 points, Courier with 500 points and Andre Agassi and Todd Martin with 200 points.
The PowerShares Series, the 12-city tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30, continues Wednesday, April 29 in Minneapolis, Minn., at the Target Center. Roddick, McEnroe and Blake will be joined in Minneapolis by Michael Chang.
For full schedule, player and ticket information, go to www.PowerSharesSeries.com
The remaining PowerShares Series schedule with full fields are as follows:
Wednesday, April 29: Minneapolis, Minn. (Target Center) “Champions Shootout”
John McEnroe vs. James Blake, Andy Roddick vs. Michael Chang
Thursday, April 30: Cincinnati, Ohio (Cintas Center at Xavier) “Champions Showdown”
Andy Roddick vs. James Blake, John McEnroe vs. Michael Chang
Saturday, May 2: Vancouver, Canada (Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at UBC) “Champions Showdown”
Michael Chang vs. Mark Philippoussis, Pete Sampras vs. John McEnroe
In 2014, John McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte. McEnroe was followed in the points standings by Blake in second place and Roddick in third place.
ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Champions Series, a collection of tournaments featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including “Legendary Night” exhibitions, The World Series of Volleyball and numerous corporate outings. Since inception, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment has have raised over $4 million for charity. In 2014, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment merged with Horizon Media, the largest privately held media services agency in the world. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.powersharesseries.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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PowerShares QQQ™, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the NASDAQ-100 Index®, is one of the largest and most traded ETFs in the world. Under most circumstances, QQQ will consist of all of the stocks in the index which includes 100 of the largest domestic and international nonfinancial companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market based on market capitalization.
