Andy Roddick topples Steve Darcis to advance to the title match – AEGON International 2012
American number three, Andy Roddick, grabbed his 600th win on the ATP World Tour, as he breezed past Belgium’s Steve Darcis, ranked 72nd in the world, in the semi-finals at the AEGON International in Eastbourne,
England on Friday.
The former world number one, Roddick, was leading 6-3, 3-1 forfeited the match due to a back injury, with the contest lasting for only one hour.
The three-time Wimbledon finalist completed double duty, as he beat Italy's Fabio Fognini in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the quarter-finals earlier in the day.
Coming back to the latest match, the American and Belgian did not lose their serve in the first four games to take the score to 2-2. They traded a break of serve in the next two and evened out the proceedings at 3-3. It was all
Roddick show after that, as he captured three successive games to seal it 6-3.
Ranked 33rd in the world, the American banged in three aces and did not commit any double fault. The 29-year-old had a disappointingly low first serve percentage of 46 but he succeeded in claiming nine of the 12 points
on them. The strongest aspect of Roddick’s game was his aggressive second returns, as he won six of the 10 points with their help.
Opening the second set, Darcis went up 40-0 in his first serve game but he still failed to hold, losing it and trailing 0-1. The Belgian could not pull back the break till the fourth game and went down 1-3. At that moment, Darcis
decided to retire from the match with a back injury.
Roddick repeated his opening set’s performance of three aces in the second but he also improved his first serve percentage to 78 this time, winning incredibly all the seven points on them.
Talking to the reporters after the match, Roddick said, "It was tough, some of the toughest conditions; I can't remember much tougher that I've played in. That wind out there is frightening. It's tough. It's not as much as about
tennis today as just kind of getting through it. There's going to be some lucky points. There's going to be some that you have no business losing.
The American added, "My favourite thing, I had one double fault in four sets in this stuff today. It was just shocking in this wind. I wouldn't have bet on myself for that at the beginning of the day."
Roddick will lock horns with the third seed, Andreas Seppi of Italy, in the final.
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