Querrey Advances as Roddick Bows Out at Winston-Salem

By Erik Gudris

(August 22nd 2012) It was a mixed day for American players competing in the third round of the Winston-Salem Open while Alexandr Dolgopolov advanced to the quarterfinals.

Fans might not have been expecting to watch No. 5 seed Andy Roddick get into a tough battle against Belgian Steve Darcis but they should have been considering Darcis had notched relatively easy wins against Xavier Malisse and Denis Istomin earlier in the week. Though Roddick saved three break points during his opening service game of the match, it was Darcis who matched Roddick's serving prowess as the Belgian didn't face a break point as he went onto claim the set in a close tiebreak.

Roddick had a break point chance mid-way through the second set but Darcis saved it to stay level with Roddick as they entered yet another tiebreak. But when Roddick overhit on several groundstrokes towards the end of the tiebreak, it was enough for Darcis to close out the upset win 7-6(6), 7-6(3).

“I didn’t expect this when I came here, I wasn’t playing well," Darcis told ATP.com "I’ve played two good first matches and now I have played well, serving well and trying to be aggressive when I could. Of course it is a good win before the US Open.”

Earlier in the day No. 7 seed Sam Querrey had a better result as he reached the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 9 seed Feliciano Lopez.

What was expected to be the match of the day turned into a straight sets victory for No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov who fought back from being almost down 2-5 in the second set to David Nalbandian before fighting back to clinch a 6-3, 6-4 win. Dolgopolov will next play Querrey.

After a rain delay halted their matches in the afternoon, both top seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych returned in the evening to complete them. Tsonga defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6(1), 6-4 while Berdych beat Jarko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2.

(Photo Credit: AP/Anja Niedringhaus)