Andy Roddick came out of the court on Thursday with a 6-1, 7-6 win over Janko Tipsarevic and advanced to the quarterfinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
Roddick stormed past his opponent in the opening set.
Tipsarevic was able to break the former world number 1 in the second set but Andy recovered and got the break back.
In the tie-break, the American needed to save two set points in order to seal the win.
“I was rolling. He had one good return game where he hit some good shots. I felt like he saved all his good shots for one return game,” said Andy. “But I was able to fight back. Those are the matches that kind of springboard you into good form, you have to put up with some adversity and you get through. It’ll only get better.”
“It was intense to start it off, kinda tight, we both made a couple of errors and then I thought the level got pretty good there at the end,” said Roddick of the tie-break. “I’m just happy I was able to execute some shots under pressure. That’s the only way to build confidence, so I’m happy to get through.”
In the quarterfinals, Andy Roddick will face Lleyton Hewitt, who defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-7(9), 7-5, 6-0.
The Aussie came back from down a set and a break and saved two match points to advance.
This will be the 13th meeting between Roddick and Hewitt.
The American won their past five matches to even the career series at 6-all.
“I think I’ve won six in a row, but they’ve all been brutal,” said Roddick. “We had 6-4 in the third here, 6-4 in the fifth in the quarters of Wimbledon, 6 and 6 somewhere along the way, so they’ve all been very, very tight matches.
“I think we have a lot of respect for each other. There are not a lot of guys out there that have accomplished and been around for as long as we have. I respect him and I think we always look forward to playing some good matches.”
Photo AP
Source ATP
