Wimbledon - Roddick dashes Murray dreams

Eurosport - Sat, 04 Jul 20:59:00 2009

Andy Murray saw his dreams of becoming the first Briton in 71 years to reach the men's final at Wimbledon dashed when he was beaten 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6 by Andy Roddick on a packed Centre Court.

TENNIS Andy Roddick Andy Murray Wimbledon - 0

Roddick was exceptional in outpowering Murray and will now face Roger Federer in the showpiece match on Sunday after the five-times champion reached his seventh successive Wimbledon final.

The American shocked the home crowd in SW19 after taking the opening set 6-4, before Murray hit back to set up a tense third set.

Roddick held his nerve to outplay Murray in a tie-break and repeated the feat in the fourth set, winning his 26th breaker out of 30 this season.

The first five games of the opening set passed without much damage being inflicted on either player's serve, as both men tried to settle into the match.

Roddick harried his opponent with the aim of shortening the points - and proceeded to rush into the net more than usual in an attempt to force an error from Murray.

With the first set seemingly drifting towards a tie break, Roddick pounced on some indecisive play from the number three seed and broke serve with some precise percentage tennis.

A sliced backhand from Roddick drew the crucial error: with Murray taken aback, he planted a forehand into the net and the first set was Roddick's.

The setback appeared to jolt Murray and the Centre Court crowd, who suddenly exploded into action.

The Brit broke Roddick in the opening game of the second set to stamp his authority on proceedings, and his sudden burst of intensity was too much for the American.

Roddick, not renowned for his prowess at the net, clearly decided to employ the tactic along with his coach Larry Stefanki, and won all 10 of his serve and volley attempts as he forced Murray to battle for the second set.

The match was levelled with the world number three holding his composure to secure the second set, having outmanoeuvred his opponent in the final game to serve out for 6-4.

Roddick was immediately under the cosh in the third set after Murray set up three break points, but the sixth seed fought ferociously to save all three and hold his serve to the dismay of the home fans.

Roddick was relentless, forcing two break points with a thunderous forehand down the line in the fourth game of the set, with an unforced error from Murray also contributing to his demise.

The first break point was saved with an exquisite forehand lob from Murray which landed right on the line and prompted an exuberant celebration, but Roddick broke with his fifth opportunity after the Brit overhit a forehand.

Roddick held firm on serve until he reached 5-3. He then suddenly looked nervous and hesitant as he attempted to close out the set, and Murray capitalised.

The sixth seed planted a backhand into the net to send the crowd into raptures, and a scintillating backhand pass from Murray forced three break points. Roddick saved the first with a solid volley, but then went long with a backhand to prompt a roar of delight from the Brit.

With the crowd giving fervent support to Murray, Roddick became rattled on his serve after his opponent had levelled at 5-5; however he held his composure with two big first serves.

The third set tie-break lurched wildly in fortunes between the two players, with Roddick saving a set point as Murray rode the wave of the crowd's vociferous support.

The American was not to be deterred, however, and capitalised on his second opportunity of the breaker to seize the advantage once more, taking it 9-7 after chasing down a Murray forehand.

There was again nothing between the pair in the opening exchanges of the fourth set, with both players holding under pressure to leave it tantalisingly poised at 3-3.

The fourth set tie-break seemed an inevitability - and when it arrived Roddick was again the grateful recipient of the shortened format.

The sixth seed flashed a forehand cross-court to convert the second match point and reach his third Wimbledon final against the five-time champion.

Jamie Murray then lost in the mixed doubles semi-finals to complete a miserable day for the family.

He and American Liezel Huber went down 6-2 7-5 on Centre Court to Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport

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  1. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Roddick go home, because you will get trashing.
    Go­ Roger, go.
    But the best is only Andy Murray !!! He­ played better than Roddick, but Roddick is a lucker.

    From zchovanova, on Sat 4 Jul 11:34AM

  2. he did his best thats all anyone can ask of him right?­ give the guy a break it was a close fought contest­ between both players can could have gone either way at­ any point

    From chris.iremonger, on Sat 4 Jul 11:15AM

  3. cowplain46 you might as well swap ronnie corbett for­ wee jimmy­ krankie their both two foot nothing and­ irritatingly scottish.

    From Anthony, on Sat 4 Jul 10:55AM

  4. And the botton line is - Murray is an exceptional­ talent, he has little personality but then he is there­ to play tennis , not to entertain us with his sparkling­ wit, answer with humour the banal and inane questions­ from the BBC TV Tennis Idiots or take on the role of­ Wimbledon Armani Fashion Queen like darling Roger­ "can you add emblazoned RF initials to the back of­ my underwear luv" Federer.
    And at the end of the­ day, until he learns how to be aggressive for the­ ENTIRE MATCH and not just ten or twenty minutes and­ then revert to pitter patter mid court public park­ practice shots again he will never win a slam­ unfortunately.
    There will always be at least one player­ in a grand slam draw who will be waiting to crucify his­ second serve - his first serve is exceptional but­ spinning the second in at 75 mph like Tracy Austin with­ a sore arm , is not going to cut the mustard in a­ mens' grand slam tournament over 2 weeks.
    His legs­ may have much more strength in themnow but i'm not­ convinced by his stamina - he still seems to suffer­ when it gets hot and close.He needs tog o back tot he­ gym and pump uo his breats now - and also sack thats­ cottish coach of his - how the hell is Miles Maclagan­ going toh elp him win a grand slam ? he never even­ broke into the world's top 200 as a player - wtf­ does he know ? get rid of that muscle mary gay boy­ squad of back up fitness/training botty boys as well­ who sit there in the box especially the one who looks­ like the singer out of Right Said Fred.

    From michael b, on Sat 4 Jul 10:52AM

  5. What a bunch of Engerlish t0ssers on here,sad fuxx.
    Who­ was repesenting Engerlund at wimbers ????????? - no­ cant.
    You wonder why the rest of the world hates the­ Engerlish - look no further than some of the comments­ on here.

    From budgie66, on Sat 4 Jul 10:45AM

  6. thomas.schaefer, comment 697 said :
    what I can see­­ here is the english will never learn.

    and what I can­ see is a misearable little kraut turnip whose country­ never learned after they got their backsides kicked in­ the first world war but still insisted on electing a­ genocidal maniac to glory and got their frankfurters­ squashed yet again in the second world war - you krauts­ never will learn will you ? go crawl back to your own­ country's yahoo message board with the rest of the­ fascists and stop trying to get rid of your own­ insecurities and frustration about being born german­ and not british on this one

    From michael b, on Sat 4 Jul 10:36AM

  7. what a miserable sod andy murray is thank god he lost

    From SueW, on Sat 4 Jul 10:36AM

  8. Anthony heamaroids,i remember wee Jimmy Krankee,when i­ was a wee kid,always pretending to be misbehaved,it was­ hilarious,fan dabby dozzy,great that.

    From cowplain46, on Sat 4 Jul 10:34AM

  9. If you try to put a YOUTUBE clip on YAHOO,it­ doesn't work,i have noticed that,you might as well­ be a vampire with no teeth,it will say invalid­ comment,what a load of crock.

    From cowplain46, on Sat 4 Jul 10:27AM

  10. He reached the semi finals which was an improvement­ from last years position and only 22, and because on­ the day the better player won he suddenly becomes a­ sweaty sock!!! I dare say if he was still in the final­ he would still be BRITISH

    From GARY, on Sat 4 Jul 10:18AM

  11. Gordon brown, sean connery,rod stewart,lulu,wee jimmy­ krankie,that referee from gladiators, the loc ness­ monster,sir alex ferguson your boy took one hell of a­ beating...... oh happy days.

    From Anthony, on Sat 4 Jul 10:09AM

  12. I think Murray back then was just like any teenager­
    but today he has grow and I think he gave us a great­ game
    and he has the potential to win wimbledon but it­ won't be this year.

    From tagnal, on Sat 4 Jul 10:07AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Glad he lost.What a miserable bstard he is.He hates the­ Brits,and only changed his tack after getting loads of­ flack last year abuot his anti brit comments.All the­ loony flag wavers make me puke.What a spoilt little­ mummies boy he is.A true ginger fukwit.

    From Mike B, on Sat 4 Jul 10:06AM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    if he smiled a bit more he might get somewhere­ miserable scot

    From SueW, on Sat 4 Jul 9:58AM

  15. How can u say hes rubbish he's third seed in­ wimbeldon. how many of you out there have achieved­ that. Support this man. He should be proud to be­ British and we should be proud of him and support his­ achievements.

    From gwen, on Sat 4 Jul 9:49AM

  16. As a Scot Im sick of the whole Scotland England­ bashing. Murry was narrow minded and bigoted with his­ stupid footie comments and I hated it. If the English­ bash him,and Brown for that matter, because of their­ nationallity it doesnt make you lot any better just­ racist! we are a UNITED KINGDOM ......move on. neither­ wonder theres so much fighting in the world.
    Nutmeg

    From gwen, on Sat 4 Jul 9:46AM

  17. some of the comments are so childish, Andy Murraya did­ us brits proud, just roddick played better on the day,­ Murray will be back next year just wait and see. He­ gave a spectacular match on Monday evening, if he had­ played like he did then it would have been the finals. ­ Come on Andy dont take any notice of the very very­ negative comments

    From P, on Sat 4 Jul 9:41AM

  18. who needs titles and cups- murray will earn millions­ [just like henman did] without ever winning a grand­ slam. a tip from an old warrior- andy take elocution­ and speech composition coaching. most sports­ stars-specially footballers are total @#$% at­ interviews just voicing an incoherent mumble. will­ come handy when you retire to be a commentator

    From karl.tosner, on Sat 4 Jul 9:40AM

  19. It was written on the wimbledon website yesterday,­ "Britain is now officially in a state of deflation­ – after Andy Murray’s Wimbledon’s hopes were ended at­ the semi-final stage by Andy Roddick." what a lot­ of nonsense. I've always observed other tennis­ players like Fed-x, Nadal, Roddick, Novak to mention­ but a few have more Brit fans than Murray. They support­ him out of desperation; he is the only Brit around! I­ was getting fed up of the press n media­ over-hype.....he may have to wait another few yrs­ before he picks up a grandslam.....as long as Nadal n­ Fed are still on circuit, he might as well forget it.­ Nadal is gonna make a great comeback because he made a­ good decision to pull out and his injury is not­ chronic....Did anyone know that Nadal also had some­ emotional and mental let-downs due to his parents­ seperation at the start of the French Open????? Well, i­ pray he pulls through well.
    I remember Djokovic made a­ comment earlier this year at the Australian open when­ all the hype was put on Murray and he said,­ "Murray may win many ATP tournaments but­ GRANDSLAMS don't come as easy". I was so happy­ but the press continued to say that Federer and­ Djokovic lashed out at Murray and they were drawing a­ line that he is not upto their(Nadal, Djokovic and­ Federer) . This is the truth and many fans don't­ wanna hear it.
    Oh! what a shame! yet another failure.­ the most important tennis tournament in the world on­ British soil and no Brit has won it in the last 7­ decades....never had of that anywhere.....

    From Immac Reno, on Sat 4 Jul 9:38AM

  20. susanf28 get a life lov, go @#$% a kaber or somthing.

    From Anthony, on Sat 4 Jul 9:38AM
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