Andy Roddick was eliminated in the first round of the combined ATP World Tour and WTA Tour Western & Southern Open Monday, losing to Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-1. Roddick was up 7-6, 4-2 in the match but was unable to put away the pesky German. After smashing his racquet after losing the second set, Roddick was assessed a point penalty on break point down 0-1 in the third set when he hit a ball into the stands. The penalty point game the German the key service break for a 2-0 lead in the third set.
“Obviously a split-second thing,” Roddick said of his fit of anger that resulted in the point penalty. “Soon as I hit it, I wanted it back….It was a judgment call for (Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes),” Roddick said. “Pretty sure I saw an 8-year-old girl catch it on the way down. He was telling me I hit it as hard as I could. I was like, ‘Dude …It’s so frustrating. I certainly accept what I did. I put him in a bad situation out there, but I do think it’s stupid in tennis that _ I mean, in football if someone throws a helmet on the sideline, it’s their helmet. We wonder where we lose our ratings battles to the WWF, Monday Night Raw.”
The loss was his third in a row for the 28-year-old ranked No. 15 in the world. He accepted a wild-card into next week’s Winston Salem Open in an effort to gain more match play in preparation for the US Open.
World No. 21 Fernando Verdasco started things off Monday on Center Court by defeating Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 7-6 (4). Getting revenge from his first round lost to the Brazilian on clay at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in February, Verdasco served up four aces while saving six of seven break points throughout the one hour and 41 minute match. The Spanish star will meet the winner of No. 13 seed Mikhail Youzhny or Michael Llodra.
One of the newest editions to the newly renovated Lindner Family Tennis Center is Court 3 and it didn’t take long before things got exciting, as former Top 15 Shahar Peer took out recent Wimbledon semifinalist and world No. 22 Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-6(4) in a match that featured an overkill of service breaks. In the one hour and 34 minute affair, the Israeli squandered a 6-4, 5-0 including holding two match points before closing things out in a tiebreak. “I was playing very solid and very smart until a set and 5-0, then I just stopped moving and was making errors from nowhere,” said Peer. “I could have been in the locker room half an hour before, but at least I won the match in the end.” The world No. 24 who trains in Miami with coach Harold Solomon will face No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka. Peer is 0-3 lifetime against Azarenka, who spent a portion of her afternoon answering questions for the media at the annual WTA All Access Media Hour featuring the Top 8 seeds.
On Grandstand Court, No. 9 seed and recent Rogers Cup quarterfinalist Andrea Petkovic kicked off her tournament with a gutsy come from behind with over Australian Jarmila Gajdosova 5-7, 7-6(5) 6-2. The German, who cracked the Top 10 for the first time in her career last week, rallied from 7-5, 2-0 down before finding herself in a pressure filled tiebreak. In a very vocal tiebreak by both players, Petkovic rallied from 1-4 down to extend the match before closing out the final set in 38 minutes. “When I get tired I get easily frustrated,” said Petkovic. During the match, Gajdosova smashed 10 aces but was haunted by 15 double faults, while Petkovic hit six aces compared to five double faults. There was a combined 32 break point opportunities throughout the match. Petkovic will face lucky loser Sofia Arvidsson, who defeated qualifier Monica Niculescu 0-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 in two hours and 14 minutes. After the match, Petkovic felt bad for beating Gajdosova after she played so well. “I feel terrible. I feel awful, really, because Jarka was playing incredible. She was just hitting winners all over. I felt like I was in the defense all the time. That’s not a good feeling, especially for a player like me who likes to be the dominant one. I don’t know how I pulled it out, but I’m thrilled that I did.”
The only other two seeded players in action on the WTA side were No. 14 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 15 Ana Ivanovic and both were victorious. Kuznetsova, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, easily dispatched veteran American qualifier Jill Craybas 6-3, 6-4 in 90 minutes. The Russian won 78 percent of her first points, while smashing three aces and breaking serve on three occasions. Knowing she had to get off to a quick start since Alexa Glatch had two matches under her belt from the qualifying tournament over the weekend, Ivanovic easily dispatched the young American qualifier 6-0, 6-2 in less than an hour during their night session match. “I’m very happy,” said Ivanovic. “It was very important, especially knowing she had a couple matches under her belt. I (had) never seen her play before, so it was a new match for me and (I) didn’t know what to expect. I had to really focus on my game, and it worked out very well for me.” The former world No. 1 and 2008 French Open champion lost just three points on her first serve and was able to convert on five of eight break points throughout the match.
Other winners on the ATP side included No. 12 Richard Gasquet, Alex Bogomolov Jr., Grigor Dimitrov, Fabio Fognini, Ryan Harrison, Feliciano Lopez, Juan Monaco and David Nalbandian. Players advancing on the WTA Tour include Alona Bondarenko, Sara Errani, Daniela Hantuchova, Ekaterina Makarova, Christina McHale, Lucie Safarova and Jie Zheng.
Na Li, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Serena Williams will headline the action on Center Court during the day session on Tuesday, while Maria Sharapova will start the night session off by facing Australian Anastasia Rodionova. Following the Sharapova vs. Rodionova match, No. 3 seed and 16-time Grand Slam singles champion Roger Federer will clash against 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in a second round showdown. During Federer’s pre-tournament press conference today, the Swiss looked ahead at this year’s tournament as the defending champion and reflected on his 2009 US Open final loss to del Potro in which he was just two points from winning the title, as well as his most recent loss at the 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. “I thought both matches were really good. They were both very close,” said Federer. “There was a lot on the line in both matches, qualifying for the semis in the World Tour Finals. And then US Open obviously having all the chances, it was a tough one to lose, definitely one of the bigger losses in my career, I think, because I really think it shouldn’t have gone away.”
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