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Roddick reaches Clay Court finals
Top-seeded Andy Roddick dominated Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 6-2 and reached his fifth straight final at the US Men's Clay Court Championships.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:51 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Houston:
Top-seeded Andy Roddick dominated Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 6-2 and reached his fifth straight final at the US Men's Clay Court Championships. Roddick will face either qualifier Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador or sixth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France in the title match. Roddick's string of five straight finals is the longest on the ATP tour since Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached the championship match at Moscow six times from 1996-2001, winning the last five. "It's a ritual I enjoy and hope to continue," Roddick said. Close shave Roddick was the Houston runner-up the past two years and took the title in 2001 and 2002. But it looked as if his string might end after he double-faulted twice in the second game and was broken after three deuces. He was broken again in the sixth game, winning only one point, and falling behind 2-4. "It was close, although it was 3-0 and I broke him again and it was 4-2," Melzer said. "I couldn't quite hold serve after that." Roddick then warmed up to the challenge. Warming up He won 12 of the next 13 points over the next three games, breaking Melzer in the seventh and ninth games and served for the set in the 10th. Roddick hit a 135-mph ace to reach set point, then placed a drop shot that Melzer couldn't get over the net. Melzer had more trouble in the second set. After he held to open the set, Melzer won only two points in the next five games before finally holding again in the seventh. Last year, Roddick had trouble chasing down Melzer's drop shots and barely advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (5) quarterfinal victory. The Austrian wasn't as successful this time, and Roddick chased down most of his attempts. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Andy Roddick
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