Andy Roddick bags his 30th ATP title in Memphis
The American top seed, Andy Roddick, continued his magnificent run at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships to win the 30th Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) title of his career. He defeated the Canadian, Milos Raonic, in the final of
the event on Sunday night in Memphis. The two hour and thirty six minutes thriller ended with the final score of 7-6, 6-7 and 7-5 in favour of Roddick.
It was a mouth watering treat for fans present in Memphis as the final proved to be a tough contest for both players. The match was so evenly poised, that it was hard to predict the winner during the event. Roddick was not sure whether he would be able to
play the final when he woke up on Sunday morning. He was suffering from a nasty cold and was not feeling physically fit for the game. However, the American displayed brilliant tennis skills in the evening’s final and showed no signs of illness. The 28-year-old
Roddick’s agility during the match certainly negated his age.
Roddick, who is well known for his killer serve, was out classed by the young Canadians. Raonic had a phenomenal first serve percentage and cracked 32 aces in to the American’s court. Roddick fired off 20 aces and converted 54 of 67 first-service points
to his advantage. Raonic had an aggressive start to the contest but he took too many unnecessary risks, which wore him down in the later parts of the match. Raonic fought very well throughout the contest and was even better than Roddick at times. The vastly
experienced American was smarter than the 20-year-old Canadian and kept winning his points at crucial moments. Roddick exhibited his mental steel to outplay the younger opponent and win his 50th career final.
“I think I was very fortunate. I feel like I got outplayed, I just stuck around and kept trying,” said the tournament winner. “What a memorable 30th victory for me. I couldn’t be happier to do it in Memphis.”
The top seed had a sluggish start to the game but gradually built up his pace to take the victory. The American ignited the contest with a double-fault and held his serve after fighting a couple of break points. Roddick couldn’t win a point off the powerful
Canadian serve until the tenth game, when Raonic thumped a forehand into the net. A tie-breaker was enforced to decide the opening set and Roddick proved to be the better man under pressure. The American broke Raonic twice in the tie-breaker to go up 8-7
and smoked a 137mph ace to seal the set number one at 7-6.
Both contestants exchanged a serve break early in the second set and then held their serves to enter into the second set tie-breaker. The American squandered three points in the tie breaker and Raonic leveled the match by taking the second set at 6-7 after
Roddick hit a backhand wide off his serve and then hit a forehand long.
The two-time champion, Roddick, capitalised on a forehand error from the Canadian to take a 3-1 lead in the decider. Raonic bounced back and made the score 4-3 before the American crafted his first championship point at 5-4, which he failed to convert. Another
attempt at 6-5 proved fruitful for the top seed as he registered his 30th ATP title victory.
Raonic missed out on his second straight title but his ranking will probably jump to number thirty seven after he finished last year at 157. Roddick became the third player to win three times at Memphis and he is the eighth American to win at least 30 ATP
titles.
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