Roddick defeats Nieminen, closes on World Tour Finals
American No. 1 Andy Roddick has moved a step closer to securing a place in the eight-player field for the World Tour Finals in London with victory over Jarkko Nieminen in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Masters.
Roddick broke the Finn’s serve twice in the opening set to claim it 6-1, before Nieminen put up more of a fight in the second, successfully serving to stay in the match in the ninth game of the set and saving two match points as Roddick served for the match in the 10th.
Victory though came at the third time of asking as Roddick closed out the 6-1, 6-4 win in one hour and two minutes to move through to the third round and a clash with Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis.
It was a strong start to Roddick’s week in Paris, as the world No. 8 produced 22 winners and just eight unforced errors as well as nine aces for the match and increases the likelihood he’ll be among the contenders at the World Tour Finals at the end of November, a tournament where he’s seeking to qualify for the eighth straight year.
Roddick currently sits eighth in the qualifying positions for the season-ending championships, with the top five players having already qualified and three spots yet to be bedded down.
As things stand, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling have all booked their places in the London draw, with Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer pencilled in ahead of Roddick in the sixth and seventh places respectively.
Fernando Verdasco and Jurgen Melzer are the other two players still currently in the running to snatch a place in the draw, though they’ll both need to produce big performances in Paris to shake up the line-up as it presently stands.
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