Andy Roddick Rallies Past Rafael Nadal Into Miami Final

By Richard Pagliaro
Photos: © Henk Abbink

(April 2, 2010) Andy Roddick didn't need to scan his shirt for palm prints after the first set of today's Sony Ericsson Open semifinal: Roddick knew Rafael Nadal was pushing him around.

Rather than resorting to strong-arm tennis and simply shoving back, Roddick took a few steps closer to the baseline to narrow the gap, flattened out his forehand and hit it down the line with greater frequency and attacked net with some timely serve-and-volley plays.

In the end, Roddick relied on his versatility and creativity to out-maneuver one of the game's great movers and move into his second straight Masters 1000 final with a masterful 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory that was as much about passion and precision as it was about power.

"I took a lot of risk there in the last two sets. The best thing I can think of is I rolled the dice a lot and came up Yahtzee a couple times," Roddick said. "That's what I have to do.  My comfort zone of moving the ball around and maybe chipping it around a little bit doesn't work against Rafa.  I had to try to come up with something that at least took him out of his comfort zone a little bit, and it paid off."

Playing bolder tennis in attacking with his feet as well as his seismic serve, Roddick won 16 of 20 points played on his first serve and 10 of 14 trips to net in the final set.



"The first set and half any time we got neutral he was pushing me around," Roddick said. "And I knew A. I had to be more aggressive with my forehand and B. use my serve to set up the point more."

Continuing his quest to capture his first Masters 1000 crown since he won the 2006 Cincinnati title, Roddick returns to the Miami final for the first time since he beat an injured Guillermo Coria to collect the 2004 Sony Ericsson Open.

A red-hot Roddick registered his 10th victory in his last 11 matches to raise his record to an ATP-best 25-4 on the season. Roddick will face Tomas Berdych, who saved a match point to upset Roger Federer in the fourth round, in Easter Sunday's 1 p.m. final, which will be televised nationally by CBS.

The 16th-seeded Berdych broke serve four times in a 6-2, 6-2 win over fifth-seeded Robin Soderling in tonight's second semifinal.

It is the fourth final in six tournaments for Roddick, who opened the season winning his 28th career title in Brisbane. A runner-up in San Jose, Roddick beat Soderling for the first time in three meetings, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to reach the Indian Wells final last month where he lost to Ivan Ljubicic, 7-6(3), 7-6(5).  Roddick is 5-2 lifetime against Berdych, including wins over the 20th-ranked Czech in the Brisbane semifinals in January and San Jose quarterfinals in February.

A space of about 20 feet was all that separated Roddick from Nadal at the conclusion of the match. But the emotional expanse between the two was wider than the waters of Biscayne Bay dividing downtown Miami from Key Biscayne.

Nadal, who has played 13 tournaments without a title since he swept Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win Rome last May, pounded his palm against his leg in a rare display of frustration during a third-set changeover. It marked the second straight tournament Nadal let a Masters 1000 semifinal lead slip away. He held a one-set lead against Ljubicic in the Indian Wells semifinals, but resorted to passive play in the third-set tie breaker and lost, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(1).

The four-time French Open champion pointed out the positives in his performance during the American hard-court season, but had to feel the sting of squandering another opportunity to reach the final in falling to Roddick for the first time in two years.



"I am playing well. I had very good matches in these two tournaments," Nadal said. "That's the positive things.  Worst thing I lost two semifinals in three sets.  That's it.  Just if you are there, you gonna have your day.  You're gonna win one day.  I am happy how I am doing."

The fourth-seeded Spaniard led 1-0 with a break point in the second game of the final set. That's when a resourceful Roddick changed up his tactics.

Roddick sent a slice serve down the middle to draw even at deuce, followed with a backhand volley winner of a serve and volley then exploited Nadal's deep return position in depositing a forehand drop volley winner to hold for 1-all. Roddick, who saved three of four break points on the day, did not face another break point the rest of the match.

Trying to serve-and-volley against Nadal on a regular basis can be as intimidating as trying to sprint across I-95 — Roddick offered an even more visceral description of the experience.

"It's kind of like driving into head on traffic times," Roddick said.

His approach was not tennis demolition derby. Instead, Roddick mixed up his serves and tactics in an effort to prevent one of the game's great grinders of chewing him up. Roddick said his strategic shift was borne out of necessity.

"The way I rationalized it was, you know, I'm trying to get the upper hand in a rally.  It's very tough once we get neutral," Roddick said. "I don't hit the ball like him. I hit the ball straight through, and his ball comes up and down and he can switch directions a little bit easier than I can. So basically I was sitting here thinking, all right, well, is my second serve my best approach shot against him?  I thought it was, so that made the decision kind of, I guess, a little bit easier in my mind. Doesn't always work, but I thought that was my best shot."

The return has never been Roddick's strength, but he stepped forward a bit, hit through his forehand and took just enough time away from Nadal to prompt the Spaniard to slap a forehand into net and drop serve to fall behind 1-2.

Down 15-30, Roddick serve and volleyed off a second serve, swooped in for a high forehand volley and knocked off backhand volley for 30-all. Roddick held for the 60th time in his last 62 service games to seize a 3-1 lead.

Nadal had one more shot to get back on serve in testing Roddick at deuce in the eighth game. Roddick responded with a backhand volley winner. He attacked net again and tried twice to volley down the line behind Nadal, but the 2008 Wimbledon champion read the play and spun a forehand pass up the line for deuce.

Unfazed, Roddick gained the ad when Nadal sliced a backhand into net. He sliced a serve down the middle to hold for 5-3.  Nadal came undone in the next game nudging a volley into net to fall to match point. A looping forehand sailed beyond the baseline and Roddick nearly dropped to his knees in joy before looking ahead to Sunday's final, while Nadal can take some solace in the fact his clay-court season starts in nine days in Monte Carlo.

Establishing his authority at the outset, Nadal broke early then saved a break point when Roddick lifted a forehand beyond the baseline. Roddick cornered Nadal with high-bounding topspin forehands to the Nadal backhand in the fourth game. That pattern created a clear opening down the line, but when Roddick tried to flatten his forehand out he found the net instead and it was 3-1 for Nadal.

In the ninth game, Roddick saved a set point with a 133 mph service winner and held for 4-5.

Defending his second serve effectively, Nadal hooked a forehand winner into the corner to seize the first set, 6-4.

Nadal fended off a break point in the second game of the second set.

In the eighth game, Roddick hit his first forehand winner of the match — a laser down the line — for 0-30. A forcing forehand drew an error from Nadal and Roddick ripped an inside-out forehand winner to break at love for 5-3.

As Roddick began to move closer to the baseline, the depth of Nadal's drives diminished a bit giving Roddick the opportunity to move into the court.

"Later in the second set Andy was serving well.  No, I didn't have a lot of chances on the return," Nadal said. "He play very aggressive game and started to play more aggressive in the game where he did me the break.  It was a change, and it was surprise for me. After that, in the third, you know, he put more pressure on my serve, attacking more.  He was serving very regular, pretty well the third."