Top-seeded Andy Roddick used his overpowering serve to win the SAP Open for the third time in his career, beating fourth-seeded Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in Sunday's final.
Roddick never faced a break point as Stepanek had no answer for his booming serve. Roddick closed out each set with an ace to win his 23rd career title.
There were only two service breaks in the match. Stepanek lost his serve at love to open the match and never recovered. Then at 5-all in the second set, Roddick came up with the two powerful groundstrokes he needed to close out the match.
He hit a forehand down the line off the first serve that handcuffed Stepanek as he approached the net to earn a break point. Then he went up 6-5 with a topspin forehand passing shot.
After that, it was just a formality as Roddick started the next game with an ace and two service winners. Roddick made two errors before finishing it off with a 208kph ace down the middle.
Stepanek was looking for his third career title. The Czech tried to win over the fans in San Jose by wearing a Joe Thornton Sharks jersey when he came out onto the court. But that was probably a bad omen, considering the Sharks have one of the worst home records in the NHL.
Maria Sharapova returns to fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva during their final match at the US$2.5 million Qatar Open tournament in Doha on Sunday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment