Brisbane International Tennis - Australian Open Series

Roddick holds off Stepanek in tense final

AAP/Image: SMP Images Sunday 10 January 2010 Comments

As far as fitness tests go, recovering top seed Andy Roddick could not have wished for a better hit-out than his marathon Brisbane International championship victory over defending champion Radek Stepanek on Sunday.

But that didn’t make it any less annoying.

In the end, world No.7 Roddick finally converted his sixth match point to oust second seeded Stepanek 7-6(2) 7-6(7) in a final lasting more than two hours.

It was a great workout for Roddick ahead of the Australian Open, but the former world No.1 would surely have preferred to have pulled off the quick kill that initially presented itself at Pat Rafter Arena.

In his first tournament since October due to a troublesome knee, Roddick appeared set for an early shower after being a set and 5-1 up against the world No.12.

But Stepanek was at his niggling best, changing the tempo of the match to dismantle Roddick’s power game and claw his way back before forcing a second set tiebreak.

The 31-year-old was it again in the tiebreak, saving five match points from 6-1 down to hold a set point before Roddick finally put the veteran away to claim his 28th career title.

Roddick’s gutsy victory ended Stepanek’s nine-game winning run at the Brisbane International.

“Radek, I know you won here last year and you were undefeated on this court and for a while I thought it might be your destiny,” Roddick told the crowd after his win.

“One thing about you, you get to every ball and never give up the fight – that’s to be applauded.”

In an encouraging sign ahead of the year’s first Grand Slam, Roddick claimed his first career title in Australia – and in his first final Down Under.

Roddick has had a frustrating time of it in Australia’s Grand Slam, making the semifinal four times in the past seven years, only to be denied a shot at the title.

While Roddick insisted that his knee was “fine”, questions were raised over the former world No.1’s fitness when he opted not to contest Davis Cup tennis this year to cut down his workload.

But Roddick passed his Brisbane fitness test with flying colours – thanks mainly to the relentless Stepanek.

The Czech dug into his bag of tricks to stay on serve in the first set, saving two break points in the sixth game.

He even enjoyed a break point of his own in the 11th game as Roddick appeared distracted with dubious line calls that went against him, judging by the extended tirade he unleashed on chair umpire Fergus Murphy.

Stepanek saved two set points in the 12th to force a tiebreak.

But Roddick wasn’t to be denied, taking the tiebreak 7-2 and the first set in 65 minutes.

The former US Open champion’s power game appeared to hit another gear in the second, reeling off the first four games of the second set on his way to leading 5-1.

Then Stepanek turned the match on its head.

Roddick extended his record over Stepanek to 6-1.

“I didn’t expect to come in and win my first tournament after a pretty extended layoff,” former world No.1 Roddick said.

“You could focus on the last 20 minutes of stress or look at the whole week … overall I feel pretty good about it (ahead of the Australian Open).”

“It was weird. I don’t think I have squandered a lead where I have been putting in first serves and making approach shots,” Roddick said.

“And in the breakers it was the same deal. I kept making first serves so that was helping me hold on to the last shred of sanity I had.

“But at the end of the day the only thing that will be remembered is the ‘w’ (win).”

After fighting back to force a second set tiebreak, Stepanek amazingly saved five match points from 6-1 down to hold a set point before Roddick finally put the veteran away to claim his 28th career title.

“To come back from 1-5 down (in the second set) against a player such as Andy with a tremendous serve, it was a great battle,” Stepanek said.

“I never gave up. I was fighting until the last point.

“I said to myself ‘you are in Brisbane, you won here last year, there is something special here’, but in the end it wasn’t good enough.

“(But) back to back finals – it has been a magic place for me here.

“I will be coming into the Australian Open with only positives.”

Tags: Andy Roddick, Radek Stepanek

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