Andy Roddick outplayed by Mardy Fish
Mardy Fish defeated his long time American buddy Andy Roddick in the Atlanta Tennis Championships semi final being held at Johns Creek, Georgia. The 9th ranked and top seed for this tournament Andy Roddick didn’t give much of a fight to his opponent. Fish is undoubtedly in his best form this season as this will be his third final in four tournaments. Fish was already the favourite for winning the match as Fish had conquered Roddick eight consecutive times before this match. After this win Fish has a winning streak of nine which started off in Newport.
It took Fish about one hour and forty minutes to conquer his friend in the court battle. The first set was extremely thrilling and balanced as both Roddick and Fish were engaged in a head to head fight. There struggle for the first set came to a deadlock when there was a 6-6 tie. The tie breaker was magnificently played by Fish and he restricted his opponent to five points. A total of 11 aces were hit in the first set. Roddick hit 6 aces and won 26 points on serve. Roddick couldn’t save the lone break point opportunity he gave in the second set. Fish on the other hand gave 3 break point opportunities in the first set but saved all of them.
In the second set Fish was completely overpowering Roddick. Fish seemed to be in supreme shape after he recovered from his knee injury. Not just that, he has also lost 30 pounds since then. He was extremely agile across the court, returning Roddick’s volleys with precision and power. Playing his best game he went to a 4-2 lead in the second set after which he angled a return on Roddick’s volley to save the break point. He took that game to a 5-2 lead.
Roddick started to fight back in the eighth game of the second set. He took possession of the court and won the game bringing the game score to 5-3. In the next game fish was determined to achieve a victorious finish and on his serve game he clinched the set 6-3. Fish hit 4 aces and won 20 points on serve. Fish converted the lone break point opportunity given by Roddick to his advantage. Fish won a total of 27% return points on 1st return.
Since last September, Fish has been on a fitness run. After his knee surgery he started working with trainer Christian LoCascio. He seemed especially fast after his weight loss under the same ‘program’. Roddick is scheduled to play the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington after one week. The 49th ranked Fish will play another American John Isner, in the Atlanta Tennis Championships Final. Isner is the second seed for the tournament and came through after beating South African Kevin Anderson in the semi final.
It is the 16th career ATP World Tour final for Mardy Fish. Fish has a record of 26-11 for this season. After clinching the title for South African Airways 2010 in Newport, Fish will be eyeing the Atlanta Tennis Championships title. Isner, the giant 6’9” American who recovered from his first game against Muller seems confident for the title too. It will be a tough competition between the ‘agile’ Fish and ‘marathon man’ Isner.
In an after match interview Roddick praised Mardy for control of the match. He said Mardy was dictating the ball to which he couldn’t do much.
"He was taking that first ball and dictating with it. When someone is executing that well a lot of it will be out of your control. I got outplayed in the second set for sure, but it was a close match and this puts me in a better position going into Washington that if I hadn't played at all". All eyes are now set on the Isner and Fish final which will decide the champion of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
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