Roddick stops Karlovic at Washington Open04.08.2007 21:59 SportsBy Steve Ginsburg WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top seed Andy Roddick continued his impressive form during the hardcourt season by defeating Ivo Karlovic 7-6 7-6 on Saturday to reach the final of the Washington Open. Roddick will play the winner of Saturday's other semi-final between American wild card John Isner and ninth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils. World number five Roddick fired a modest 12 aces in the match but more importantly won 98 percent of the points on his first serve. Roddick trailed 4-1 in the first-set tiebreaker but rallied to win 9-7 when the 6-foot-10 Karlovic punched a forehand beyond the baseline. Cheered wildly by a partisan crowd, Roddick won the second-set tiebreaker 7-5. He seized control at 6-5 on a brilliant running backhand down the line and won it on the next point when Karlovic whacked a weak forehand into the net. The 24-year-old Roddick, who reached the semi-finals in Indianapolis last week, is 27-6 on the hard courts this season. Roddick improved his lifetime mark to 3-1 against the seventh seeded Croatian, who blasted 19 aces and dozens of service winners in the losing effort. There were no service breaks and few extended rallies in the one-hour, 37-minute match-up between two of the tour's hardest servers. Source: reuters.comwww.alllee.com |
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