Roddick flexes racket
Tennis Canadian eliminated in first-round at Rogers Cup after falling in straight sets to American
TORONTO - With the match on the line, Andy Roddick was simply too much for Nicolas Mahut.
The sixth-seeded American won his second-round match at the $2.6-million Rogers Cup tennis tournament Tuesday, dispatching Frenchman Mahut 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in a contest that was twice interrupted by rain.
Roddick needed just 28 minutes to capture both the first and third sets. Roddick was especially strong in the third, blasting six of his 18 aces in the final nine games and going a perfect 15-for-15 in first serve points won.
"I thought I moved well and most importantly I felt good physically," Roddick said. "All in all, I think it was a good match."
Another Canadian lost in singles Tuesday. Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., dropped a 6-2, 6-4 decision to American Jesse Levine, who was born in Ottawa before moving to the U.S. at age 13.
Polansky's departure leaves Frank Dancevic as the lone Canadian remaining in singles. The native of Niagara Falls, Ont., faces Novak Djokovic of Serbia in a second-round match Tuesday night. Djokovic, who won this tournament last year when it was held in Montreal, is the third seed.
Dancevic, who upset Mario Ancic of Croatia in the first round, was also scheduled to play a doubles match with Levine against Australians Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr on Tuesday night.
In other action, German Tommy Haas beat Spain's Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2; 16th-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-1; Russian Igor Andreev got past France's Gael Monfils 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3); Sweden's Robin Soderling defeated Argentina's Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-1; Sweden's Thomas Johansson got past Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 7-6 (4), 6-1; Gilles Simon of France defeated American Donald Young 6-1, 6-3; Marin Cilic of Croatia beat Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman beat France's Arnaud Clement 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Roddick initiated one of the suspensions in play when in the first set he walked off the court leading 3-1 with it raining. Roddick said he did so more to prevent injury than risk losing momentum in the match.
"Sure, but I was also scared that I would slip and break a leg," he said. "The risk-reward there was a little obvious.
"It was coming down pretty hard."
Roddick also disputed a line call that allowed Mahut to hold serve in the second set and tie the score at 1-1. Roddick was chasing down a Mahut shot when it was called out, so he didn't take a swing at it despite being close enough to. The call was over-ruled - rightfully so, the American said - so Roddick figured there would be a replay of the point.
Instead, however, the umpire gave Mahut the point to tie the set.
"I guess the rule is you have to be 100 per cent sure the person can't get to the ball and I said I would've had to have alligator arms not to get to that ball," he said. "I was a foot away from it so I just couldn't understand it.
"And then I think when they realize they're wrong sometimes they sit here until they convince themselves that they made the right call. But the replay guy completely sold him out. I had a talk with him just now and everything is fine but I finally said, 'I don't really care about the point, I just want you to tell me you know you made the wrong call.' Some days they go your way, some days they don't."
Polansky got behind Levine early, thanks to his inability to hold serve. Polansky was broken all four times he served in the first set and earned his two games via service break as well. Polansky was at a loss for an explanation.
"I don't know," he said. "He was returning well.
"I just couldn't hold my serve."
Playing in this event allowed Polansky to spend some time at his home, which is located about a 10-minute drive from the Rexall Centre. Despite being a Canadian player in this event, Polansky said he didn't feel any extra pressure to perform.
"It's a really big event and they don't expect you to win it or sometimes even get past the first round," he said. "I really felt I had a chance to win my match and it's too bad.
"I felt like everyone was behind me and I don't take it as pressure as I do opportunity."
Levine, 20, moved to Florida with his family but not to play tennis. His brother, Daniel, 17, has ulcerative colitis and the thought was the warm weather would be better for him. Levine can represent the U.S. because his father is American.
By beating Polansky, Levine now advances to second-round showdown with Spain's Rafael Nadal, the tournament's second seed and this year's French Open and Wimbledon singles champion.
"Obviously I'm looking forward to playing on (Centre Court) against Rafael Nadal," Levine said. "He's a great player and I always watch him on TV and it will be kind of cool to play him."
Should Dancevic lose his singles match Tuesday night, that would leave Levine as the lone Canadian-born player in the tournament. If that scenario materializes, Levine will hope to be adopted by the Toronto tennis community against Nadal.
"That would be nice to get them behind me," he said. "I think that helped Peter out a lot today.
"Getting fans behind you is such a big thing."
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