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Roddick (and Others) Not Intimidated by the Big Stage

Ahead: Federer v. Stepanek; Cilic v. Djokovic, Dementieva v. Li; Jankovic v. Wozniacki
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Andy Roddick

Mal Tam Andy bristled at being called the underdog. The meat of the tournament begins on Saturday when the third rounds kick off, but someone forgot to tell the sandwich makers not to pile the lettuce to high so as to obscure the more tasty elements of the entrée. It was a mustard-lashed kickoff to Labor Weekend at the USO, without a tremendous amount of major upsets, but a few notable seeds being smushed and a more than a few notables pushing their way to unleash more than handful of tantalizing match-ups.

There was Radek Stepanek besting Chris Guccione
6-4, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 and earning himself a clash with Roger Federer, who worked his way past Thiago Alves 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. The Worm slithered his way past Federer earlier in the year and is sure to trouble him once again. There was the powerful and capable Marin Cilic thumping Robby Ginepri in his favorite locale 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and earning himself an in- your-face Eastern Euro brawl with Novak Djokovic, who won the big points from the big arena loving Robert Kendrick 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-4.

Jo Tsonga overcame Carlos Moya in a spectacular, crowd-pleasing, hand-slapping four setter and now will face Tommy Robredo, who watched Marat Safin tank the fourth set of the Spaniard's 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-0 victory. Smoking Joe could very well be a factor again, despite not having played since May.
Other sort-of-fun clashes include Russian DC teammates Dmitry Tursunov and Nikolay Davydenko facing off, as well as Fernando Verdasco and Igor Andreev.

Then, as Friday night turned to Saturday, Andy Roddick finally looked like a veteran while Ernests Gulbis looked all the part of a raw teenager in the American’s 3 6, 7 5, 6 2, 7 victory, where he came back from 3-5 down in the second set. Gulbis was eating Roddick’s late dinner for a while, but the 2003 US Open champion overcame a small temper tantrum in the second set and kept to his plan, which was to forced the action until the kid cracked. That he did.

The key for Gulbis going into he match was to maintain his composure and as Roddick said, there were way too many folks picking his opponent based on flash, a sizebale backhand and potential alone. Any hardcore follower of the US Open knows that not every young player is emotionally capable of keeping calm in the nutty NYC atmosphere. Gulbis had never proved that he was, which was the great intangible on Roddick’s side.

“ I guess one thing that no one will dispute is that I pretty much leave it out there every time, and if I lose, it's not for lack of effort,” Roddick said. “Nights like tonight sometimes it's beneficial.
When he steps up and is hitting his shots, he hits so hard there's not a lot you can do. He literally just cracks the ball. I just tried sticking around and mixed up the paces a little bit. Tried to make him hit shots that I thought might be less comfortable for him….I was watching tennis today and I'm hearing I'm not the favorite in the match. I took a little bit of offense to that, just because, the guy was one match over .500 for the year, and I feel like I've proven I'm a decent player, probably better than one game over .500. This is a tournament that I play well at. He was real close to proving everyone right. … One thing I've said I have over 95% of the players in this tournament is playing in that atmosphere, I'm totally comfortable playing in that atmosphere. I like it, and tonight when people are dancing in the stands, I love that. I'm having a blast out there, even watching it. I'm not intimidated by that stadium. I've been there plenty of times, and it’s probably a stadium that takes the most getting used to the first time. The wind is a little bit different in there. The atmosphere is a little crazier with the New York crowd, so that's something that is advantageous for me.”

The women had more eye-opening losses of note, but neither was completely unexpected when Marion Bartoli fought past her own nerves and Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 7-6(3). Former USO champ and last year's finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her slide, falling 6-3 6-7(1) 6-3 to Katarina Srebotnik.

Bartoli played one of her best matches of the summer, but said that up 5-3, she grew nervous and then had t push herself mentally to shake it off. "I was saying, 'Oh my god, it's going to start again and she's going to start serving and playing so well and put pressure on me. It was my first time on Ashe Stadium at night and I got so nervous because the crowds was pushing her," Bartoli said.

She served for the match twice and in the breaker when Davenport's forehand and serve let her down again, the Frenchwoman hit her spots. Now she'll face Sybille Bammer and when Bartoli is scurrying around and on the ball, she looks like a top 10 player again.

"I'm feeling well and moving well and I'm so flexible and I can play four hours now without getting tired. I have some big steps ahead. Last year I played Serena in the fourth round and it was a really bad draw and this year I play and an opponent I can beat. Of course I have to do it but I'm really excited about it." That's foe is lefty mom (another mom), Sybille Bammer, who pounded Tatiana Perebiynis 6-3 6-0.

Perhaps Caroline Wozniacki scored the most impressive win of the day over her friend Victoria Azarenka
6-4, 6-4. The Dane has been unbeatable for few weeks and promises that when she faces No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, who beat Zheng Jie 7-5, 7-5, she'll go for her shots at crunch time. She said that at Wimbledon, she didn't. Elena Dementieva beat Anne Keothavong 6-3, 6-4, but will have a much tougher match against Li Na, who overcame Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.