Andy Roddick injured in Shanghai as Djokovic rolls on
Andy Roddick has for the second straight year been forced to retire from his second-round match at the Shanghai Masters 1000.
Roddick, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at the same tournament last year, won the first set against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 but as a leg injury began to trouble him in the second set the American was broken for the first time in the match, as his unseeded opponent levelled the scores at 2-2.
The 10th seed pulled the pin on the match after the next game, a service hold by Garcia-Lopez, handing the Spaniard a 3-6, 3-2 win and a third round clash against Tomas Berdych.
Roddick’s retirement from today’s match could, aside from ending his Shanghai title chances, jeopardise his chances of qualifying for the World Tour Finals in London at the end of November – providing he recovers in time to play at the tournament.
The world No. 10 currently sits in seventh place in the race rankings for the season-ending championships (only the top eight will qualify) with David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco (who lost his opening match in Shanghai) currently holding the eighth and ninth positions.
While Roddick’s tournament has ended in disappointment, Novak Djokovic’s winning streak continues with the world No. 2 handing Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic a 6-3, 6-3 defeat in one hour and 20 minutes in their second-round clash.
The victory was Djokovic’s seventh straight win, a streak that includes his Davis Cup semi-final win over Berdych and his run to the title at the Beijing Open in China.
Also on the winners’ list today was Andy Murray, the fourth seed defeating Chinese wildcard Yan Bai 6-2, 6-2. Bai, ranked as the world No. 465, had given the home crowd something to cheer about with his upset win over the out-of-sorts Radek Stepanek in the first round, but was no match for Murray who will now face French qualifier Jeremy Chardy as he seeks to book a place in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seed Robin Soderling was another to move through to the third round today, the Swede defeating Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 7-6(5) in one hour and 43 minutes, while Jurgen Melzer won his second round encounter with Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-7(2).
Tags: