2011 Brisbane International: Andy Roddick off to a good start
Competing at the 2011 Brisbane International this week, American Andy Roddick looks to defend his title at the event for a strong start in the new season. The Brisbane International is currently underway at the Queensland Tennis
Centre from 2nd January to 9th January.
Seeded second in the event, Roddick is one of the three Top 10 players competing at the event. The other two Top 10 players are world number five Robin Soderling and world number nine Fernando Verdasco.
Having debuted in Brisbane last year, Roddick enjoyed a final run at the event clinching the first title of the season. Moving past locals Peter Luczak and Carsten Ball, French Richard Gasquet and world number six Tomas Berdych;
Roddick was able to setup a final clash with defending champion Radek Stepanek. Finally, Roddick defeated the Czech in back to back tiebreakers.
Roddick’s title defence began at Brisbane on Monday when he faced local wild card entrant Marinko Matosevic. Matosevic won the Australian Open wildcard playoff last month earning him the wildcard into the Brisbane event as well.
Although Matosevic enjoyed the home court advantage, the disparity in the rankings dominated the outcome of the match. Rushing into the lead in the opener, Roddick secured a 6-3 win in the first set. Going into the second, Roddick
cruised into a 5-0 lead before clinching the second set with a 6-2 win.
Roddick enjoyed a straight set win over the local in seventy-two minutes. He served five aces committing only one double fault and losing only eleven points on service.
Talking about the match Roddick said, "It was alright, I thought the second set was probably better than the first.” When asked about the pressure of title defence, he said, "The pressure is always to use this tournament to get
me ready for Melbourne; it worked last year so I'm going to do it again this year,"
Meeting for the first time on the courts, Roddick now leads the career head-to-head 1-0. Roddick goes on to face Alexandr Dolgopolov later in the event.
Roddick finished his eighth straight year ranked in the top ten. Finishing 2010 ranked eighth in the world, Roddick registered a win loss mark of 48-18 for the season. In addition to winning at Brisbane, Roddick finished the year
with another title win at the Miami Masters. Roddick defeated Berdych to lift the inaugural title at the event. He also put in two finals appearances, running the complete courses at San Jose and the Indian Wells Masters. Roddick was also the last player to
qualify for the elite eight-man field at the season finale event in London making him the only other player besides Roger Federer to have played at Houston, Shanghai and London.
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