Regions Morgan Keegan Championships: Del Potro out, Roddick in
America’s Number 1 tennis player Andy Roddick made short work of Grand Slam champion Juan Martin Del Potro, defeating the Argentine in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 at the semi-finals of the 2011 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. Roddick, who was seeded first
at the ATP 500 series tournament, took a little over an hour and thirty minutes to defeat his 22-year-old opponent.
The match was not a particularly challenging one for Roddick, who has won two titles at the Memphis joint event prior to this. The first set was an easy win – the American pro managed to avoid facing any break points, although he successfully converted one
out of six against his opponent. Roddick also managed to score five aces, two more than Del Potro. To sum the set up, he won an impressive 58 percent of the total points played to take the opening set 6-3.
However, Del Potro seemed to recover in the second set, displaying some of the firepower which took him near the top in 2009. He managed to break Roddick in the second game of the last set, using the 28-year-old’s unforced errors as an opportunity. The American
seemed to lose focus, hitting a forehand wide off the mark; despite this, he broke the Argentine back almost immediately. After some attention from a trainer, he managed to score three straight aces before breaking the 2009 US Open champion in the fifth game
of the set.
Throughout the match, Andy Roddick remained in control to save one of two break points against him, and to win 55 percent of the total points in the match. Del Potro, who was competing in his second consecutive semi-final match, faced problems with his serve
and return game. Despite the loss, the current World Number 298 will move up to Number 164 as a result of his strong performance in the past couple of weeks.
Roddick seemed pleased with his victory, saying, “This is probably the best match I've played this year, including Australia.” This is the first time in four meetings that Roddick has been able to beat Juan Martin Del Potro.
Their first match took place in 2008 at Los Angeles hard court final, where Del Potro scored a 6-1, 7-6(2) victory over his opponent. Their next confrontation was in 2009, this time at the Washington final. Del Potro defeated Roddick again, recovering from
a set down to defeat the player 3-6, 7-6, 7-6(6). Their last match was in Canada, at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada semi-finals. Del Potro repeated his Washington results, defeating Roddick 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. All four of their matches have been on hard
courts.
Andy Roddick’s next match will be against Canadian wonder child, Milos Raonic. The 20-year-old will break into the Top 50 next week, and defeated American pro, Mardy Fish, in three sets 6-4, 6-6, 6-3 to reserve a spot for himself at his second straight title
match.
Tags: