Roddick loses at Madrid Masters
MADRID, Spain (AP) – Andy Roddick blew a match point and lost 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) to Ivo Karlovic on Wednesday in the second round of the Madrid Masters in a contest between big servers. Roddick, seeded second, was playing his first match since losing in the first round of the U.S. Open.
He had an easy first set and held match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker against the 6-foot-10 Croat, the ATP Tour’s tallest player. Karlovic won the tiebreak 9-7 on his second set point when Roddick’s return went wide.
Earlier, Rafael Nadal beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the second round, the top-seeded Spaniard’s first match before a home crowd since his French Open victory.
Nadal has not trained for three weeks because of knee tendinitis. He received a first-round bye along with the 15 other seeded players in the ATP Masters Series event.
“The match was not easy,” he said. “I was a bit nervous, a bit slow.”
Nadal trailed 3-1 in the first set and 3-0 in the tiebreaker before rallying. In the second set, Nadal broke to lead 4-3 and broke again to win.
Also winning second-matches were third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, fourth-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina, sixth-seeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina and eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.
Seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio lost to Jose Acasuso 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the second round in an all-Argentine match. Gaudio dropped his fifth straight match, hurting his chances of qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup next month in Shanghai, China. Four already have secured berths: Nadal, Roger Federer, Marat Safin and Andy Roddick.
Davydenko beat Slovakia’s Karol Beck 6-4, 6-1, and Coria defeated Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-4 to improve his chances of making the season finale.
“It was an ugly match, boring for spectators,” Coria said. “But the important thing was to win.”
Rochus’ younger brother, Olivier, knocked out 12th-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5); Puerta edged Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5); and Ljubicic defeated Alberto Martin of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Also, ninth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden beat Argentina’s Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (2), 6-3; 10th-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic rallied past Britain’s Tim Henman 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; and 14th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia eliminated Germany’s Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-2.