Roddick departs Winston

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Roddick departs Winston

John Isner has guaranteed a berth into the Winston’s final after defeating top seed and defending champion Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-4 to play Julien Benneteau in the last term.
The 26 year old Isner, who is one win from his second title of the year after the Newport success, broke Roddick twice and only conceded one service in the second term. The opener saw the two players go head to head and set a tough breaker, the finish of which belonged to the fourth favorite who grab the first lead after a 9-7 result.
The second set was dominated more clear by Isner who stunned his opponent with a couple of midway breaks which helped him to set a two game lead despite losing a service. Roddick, who fired ten aces, thus lost the meeting due to the poor returning, winning just 25 percent of them.
On the other side, Isner, who also hit eighth aces, provided a better return percentage of 28, winning at the same time 75 percent of service points. Andy, who has only won one title this season in Memphis, hit 65 winners to Isner’s 71 and committed two double faults, both in the last term.
“I was just looking forward to coming back home because it had been eight months, since Christmas, that I’d been in the state of North Carolina. Physically I felt pretty good coming into this event, even though this is my fourth event in a row. I definitely wanted to do well here, it’s such an important event for me,” said Isner after the game.
Next up for Isner is Julien Benneteau who has managed to impress with a great shape, reaching his first final of the year. The Frenchman edged Robin Haase in three sets after losing the first one easily, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6. In fact, Benneteau stole the victory from the Dutch who had plenty of chances to finish the meeting much earlier.
Benneteau lost the first set after conceding a couple of service, but the last two sets saw him set the pace at times and push his opponent far as possible. The second set saw the two win one break, each, and head towards the first breaker. Despite threatening with a clear win, Robin failed to stay in touch with a consistent lead, allowing his opponent to level the score after a 16 point run which.
The Frenchman thus won the second term at seven, something which gave him a lot of confidence for the upcoming decider. Finally, the third term looked almost the same as the second one, both players winning one break apiece for yet another tie break rally.
Haase, who failed to grab any match point, fell two mini breaks behind the French who took advantage of Dutch’s poor late effort to seal the win after a 14 point run. Benneteau won the tie break 8-6 to become a real threat for the upcoming US Open Slam.
The two exchanged 21 aces, 11 of which hit by Benneteau who finished the game with a 62 service percentage, a 34 return one and 108 winners, compared to his opponent’s 66 service percentage, 38 return one and 115 winners.
Previous to the semi final win, the Frenchman had ousted Sergiy Stakhovsky 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, Igor Andreev 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the third term, Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-1 in the second term and Ricardo Mello 6-1, 6-3 in the opener. His last opponent, Isner had previously ousted Marcos Baghdatis 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter final, Jarkko Nieminen 7-6, 6-2 in the third term and Dudi Sela 7-6, 6-2 in the second term.
Winston Salem Prize Money and points:
Winner – $74,630 and 250 points ATP
Runner-up – $42,500 and 150 points ATP
Semi finalist – $24,520 points ATP
Quarter finalist – $14,435 and 45 points ATP
R16 – $8,410 and 20 points ATP
R32 – $5,110 and 10 points ATP
R48 – $3,115 and zero points

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