Andy Roddick continued his domination of the 2015 PowerShares Series winning his eighth tournament title of the year Wednesday defeating John McEnroe 6-4 in the one-set championship match at the Target Center.
Roddick broke McEnroe at love in the first game of the match and coasted on serve to win for the eighth time in nine events played so far this year on the North American circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over.
“I knew I had to get up early,” said Roddick after his final-round win over McEnroe. “It’s so hard to read his serve. Luckily in the first game, he missed a lot of first serves. I served well and I’m happy to get through.”
Roddick increased his PowerShares Series record on the year to 16-1, losing only James Blake in the semifinals of Boston last Wednesday. Roddick’s career record on the PowerShares Series now stands at 20-2, his only other loss coming also to Blake in the semifinals of Houston in 2014 in debut PowerShares Series season.
McEnroe, 56 and 24 years older than Roddick, was playing in the final for a fifth time on the 2015 PowerShares Series. He lost to Roddick in all of his previous final-round losses, except for Boston where he lost to Blake 7-5. McEnroe also lost to Roddick in Chicago, Little Rock and Dallas all by 6-3 scorelines. Wednesday’s final marked the 30th time that McEnroe had reached a PowerShares Series final since the circuit began in 2005.
Roddick’s title 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 has won titles this year 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, Dallas on April 18 and Richmond, Va., on April 23.
In the semifinal matches Wednesday in the four-player event, McEnroe defeated James Blake 6-4 and Roddick posted a 6-2 win over Michael Chang, who was playing his first PowerShares Series of the season.
Roddick has already clinched the No. 1 PowerShares Series ranking for the season with 1600 points – taking a player’s best four tournament results during the season with each tournament winner earning 400 points. Blake, who won the title in Boston last Wednesday, is in second place with 900 points, followed by Mark Philippoussis and John McEnroe with 800 points, Jim Courier with 500 points, Andre Agassi and Todd Martin with 200 points and Michael Chang with 100 points.
The PowerShares Series continues Thursday, April 30 in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Cintas Center at Xavier University. Roddick will go for his ninth title of the season once again against McEnroe, Blake and Chang.
For full schedule, player and ticket information, go to www.PowerSharesSeries.com
The remaining PowerShares Series schedule with full fields are as follows:
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.
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