Andy Roddick outlasts Denis Istomin in the second round – Delray Beach International 2012
Fourth seed Andy Roddick moved to his second quarter-final of the season, as he toppled Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in the second round at the Delray Beach International in Florida, USA on Thursday.
The former world number one required one hour and 27 minutes to win the encounter.
Roddick and Istomin started in a steady manner, as they grabbed their serves in the first six games to square off the score at 3-3. The Uzbek was broken in the seventh to go down 3-4 but bounced back immediately to bring back the
score at par. Roddick clinched two consecutive games after that, clinching the set 6-4.
The 29-year-old was in a pretty bad serve form, as the big serving American was unable to hit any ace and committed a double fault. He put in just a mere 38 percent of the first deliveries, converting six of the eleven of them
into points. Though, Roddick put away one of the two break points he faced and won both he got in the opener.
The second set went with the serves until the 11th game, when Roddick made a breakthrough and consolidated on it to capture the set 7-5.
The American attacked Istomin’s second serves and claimed eight of the 14 points on them.
Roddick commented, "I'm feeling better than I did a couple of matches ago. I served horrendously and still won and was still able to break serve."
He added, "I got it done in the end. You want to close. I thought the misses I had were positive misses because they were played on my terms. I think that was a big step."
Roddick has dropped to 30th rank for the first time since August 2001. He said about this, "Honestly, I'm not as concerned with ranking," Roddick said. "I just want to get into a flow again rather than some days on,
some days off. I just want to play continuously for a while."
The American is drawn to take on seventh seed Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals. Anderson beat Xavier Malisse 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round.
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