Andy Roddick leads American exits from Washington
Andy Roddick’s bid for a fourth Legg Mason Tennis Classic title came to an end in the third round as hopes of an American champion in Washington were dashed on Thursday.
The second seed suffered a surprise 6-3, 6-3 defeat by France’s Gilles Simon, in a performance Roddick labelled as “just a pretty bad effort” and one which sees the world No. 9 make his earliest exit from the tournament since 2002.
After a disappointing grass-court season, where he was knocked out at the Queen’s Club in the third round and Wimbledon in the fourth, this is surely not the kind of result Roddick will be looking for in the lead-up to this year’s US Open, where the 2003 champion will again be seeking that elusive second Grand Slam title.
Following Roddick to the exit were Mardy Fish, the world No. 35 defeated by fourth seed Marin Cilic as his 11-match winning streak (which included two ATP Tour titles) was brought to an end, and marathon man John Isner, who came off second best in his three-set encounter with Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.
While the American charge has ended in Washington – Fernando Verdasco completing the rout of the local hopes with a predictable enough straight sets victory over US qualifier Ryan Sweeting – top seed Tomas Berdych remains on track for a maiden title at the tournament.
After surviving a tough opening match against Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov, the world No. 8 was again pushed to three sets in the third round, this time by 16th seed Andrey Golubev, but moves through to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 victory over the world No. 37.
One player who is having an easy time of it in the US capital, however, is David Nalbandian who took just 44 minutes to dismiss the unseeded Marco Chiudenelli, dropping just one game for the match.
The Argentinian wildcard is playing just his first ATP tournament since the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 during April after missing both the French Open and Wimbledon with a leg injury, and spent most of 2009 on the sidelines after hip surgery, but has cruised through his first three matches at Washington and looks poised to give Simon a run for his money in the quarter-finals.
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