Sport | Tennis
Gutsy Roddick rallies to Dubai title
World No 6 Andy Roddick became the first American to win the singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with a gutsy yet typical 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 win over surprising finalist Feliciano Lopez of Spain last night.
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:56 March 9, 2008
- Andy Roddick defeated Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-7 6-4 6-2 to win the Dubai Championship on Saturday. The sixth-seeded American earned his 25th career title and his second of the year after winning in San Jose last month.
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
Dubai: World No 6 Andy Roddick became the first American to win the singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with a gutsy yet typical 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 win over surprising finalist Feliciano Lopez of Spain last night.
The American, who had not lost a set or serve through the week here, was rattled by Lopez, who was not expected to be too tough an opponent considering Roddick's recent form.
- Audio: The new champion talks about his win in Dubai (mp3)
- Audio: Andy Roddick on why his serve wasn't broken all week (mp3)
- Audio: The US star talks about his jetlag (mp3)
- Audio: Roddick on whether he'll bring his family to the Burj Al Arab (mp3)
Roddick had won in San Jose two weeks ago while falling to Robin Soderling in the quarters last week in Memphis before arriving in Dubai for the first time ever.
Both players deserved to be finalists here — Roddick for his amazing show of power on serves and Lopez for taking three top-10 players en route to the final.
Different story
Going into the final, the American had 62 aces compared to the 45 sent down by Lopez. But last night it was a different story as Lopez had ten aces in each of the first two sets compared to 15 from the American.
Roddick accepted a cheque for $300,000 (Dh1.1 million) and received the winner's trophy from Shaikh Ahmad Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He also earned 300 ATP Ranking points. Shaikh Hasher Maktoum, Dubai Director of Information, and Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Speaker of the FNC, also attended the presentation ceremony.
This was the second Dubai final for Lopez after his first appearance in 2004 against Roger Federer.
Lopez proved to be a worthy opponent in the final to the American as he held his nerve and mixed his game well to take the first set in the tie-breaker.
After both players had done well to go the whole length of the first set without losing their serves, it was Lopez showing his grit in the tie break to fight back from 1-4 down to win it 10-8. That set saw an amazing 19 aces, of which 10 were surprisingly against the Spaniard's name.
"It is simply an amazing feeling to come here for the first time and finish off with a win," Roddick said after the final.
"He [Lopez] put me under a lot of pressure, especially after he took the first set tie-break. It has definitely been a tough match, but I have been pleased with the way I have beaten some of the top quality players on my way to the title here," added the American champion.
Going into last night's final, Lopez had an amazing run in Dubai facing Roddick as his possible fourth, top-10 victim in a week. Ranked at a distant No 1 41, the Spaniard was the only unseeded player coming through to the semifinals. Prior to this, only Frenchmen Jerome Golmard [beat Nicolas Kiefer in 1999] and Fabrice Santoro [beat Younes El Aynaoui in 2002] had won the title here as unseeded.
The second set was evenly matched with Roddick gifted a crucial break in the ninth for a 5-4 lead after Lopez committed a double fault and the American served out for the set 6-4 in 31 minutes.
Roddick broke his Spanish opponent in the very first game and then held for a 2-0 lead and then once again in the seventh to make it 5-2 for the American, who served out for set and match. "It has been quite a while since I played so well," stated Roddick.
Results
Men's singles final:
Andy Roddick (US) beat Feliciano Lopez (SPA) 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2.
Men's doubles final:
Mahesh Bhupathi/Mark Knowles beat Martin Damm/Pavel Vizner 7-5, 7-6 (7).
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