Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Aug 25: Andy Roddick advanced to the quarterfinals in the Winston-Salem Open, beating Santiago Giraldo 6-1, 6-3 on Wednesday night in the final men's tuneup before the U.S. Open.
Roddick was in sharp form for the second match in a row and showed signs that he might be recovered from recent injuries in time for the last Grand Slam event of the year. This was just his third match in the last six weeks because of an abdominal strain.
“That's the biggest thing for me, not to be scared of extended rallies,” Roddick said. “You have to get your legs back and there's only one way, and that's jumping in.”
Giraldo led the second set 2-1 before Roddick took the next three games to regain control.
Until this week, Roddick hadn't won a match since the second round of Wimbledon, recovering from an abdominal injury during much of that time. Now he has won on back-to-back nights.
“It's a thing where you crawl before you walk,” Roddick said.
Roddick will next face Argentina's Juan Monaco, who beat Kei Nishikori 6-0, 6-3.
Roddick and local favorite John Isner are the lone Americans remaining in the draw. Fourth-seeded Isner beat No. 13-seeded Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Isner, from nearby Greensboro, solved Nieminen's serve and needed just 23 minutes to win the second set.
“I held serve comfortably today, and that puts so much pressure on my opponents,” Isner said. “Any guy with a big serve will tell you being able to get cheap points puts so much pressure on (the opponent).”
In the quarterfinals, Isner will face Marcos Baghdatis, who beat Steve Darcis 7-5, 6-0. Isner lost only seven points out of 51 on his serve. The match ended, appropriately, with an ace.
Third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov advanced by beating Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7). He will face the Netherlands' Robin Haase, who defeated Pierre-Ludovic Duclos 6-4, 7-5.
Ninth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky upset No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against French qualifier Julien Benneteau, who Russia's Igor Andreev 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5). AP
