Andy Roddick thrashes Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals – AEGON Championships 2011
World number 10 Andy Roddick of USA cruised past Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, ranked 23rd in the world, in the quarterfinals of AEGON Championships at the Queen’s Club in London on Friday. The American dropped just four
games, winning a one-sided match 6-2, 6-2 in just an hour and five minutes.
Roddick and Verdasco held their opening service games in the first set to level the score at 1-1. After that, the American captured four consecutive games, breaking Verdasco in the third and fifth game and blazing forward to a
5-1 lead. Verdasco held his serve in the seventh game to reduce Roddick’s lead to 5-2. Giving no more chances to his opponent, he American served out the set in the next game, winning it 6-2.
The Texas resident hit two aces and 70 percent of the first deliveries, converting 69 percent of them into points in the first set. On the other hand, Verdasco was not as impressive as he delivered just 50 percent of the first
serves, winning 70 percent of the points on them. Roddick converted two of the three break points he received on Verdasco’s serve and did not face any break point on his own serve in the first set.
The proceedings in the second set were not much different from the first set as Roddick allowed the Spaniard to win just a couple of games, breaking him twice to win the set 6-2.
The American fired a single ace and kept his first serves percentage at 63 percent, grabbing 76 percent of the points on them in the second set. In comparison, Verdasco delivered the same percentage of first serves but the left-hander
lagged behind in the conversion rate as he converted just 55 percent of the first deliveries into points. The Spaniard did not receive any break point on Roddick’s serve and failed to save two of the eight break points on his own serve in the second set.
Roddick is slated to meet local favourite, second seed Andy Murray in the semi-finals.
Looking forward to face the Brit, Roddick said, "It's going to be tough. I don't think there's going to be a lot of surprises either way. I feel like we're probably in the two hands' worth of guys that really feel comfortable on
this surface and feel like they can play well on it. It's certainly going to be tough. He's played a lot of matches. He's playing well. It's going to be a tough one for sure."
Murray received a walk over in the quarterfinals as his opponent Marin Cilic of Croatia withdrew due to an ankle injury.
Talking about his match against Roddick, the Brit said, "He plays very well on grass. It's his best surface, I think. He obviously serves very well, so it will be important for me to serve well myself and not give him too many
opportunities."
This will be the tenth meeting between Roddick and Murray. The British leads Roddick 6-3 in the head-to-head record.
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