Two-time champion Andy Roddick made a patchy return from illness as he started the Cincinnati Masters with a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 victory Monday over Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky to reach the second round.
Roddick, who claimed trophies at the Ohio event in 2003 and 2006, missed last week in Toronto with a mild case of glandular fever, which doctors tell him is now cured.
The 27-year-old number 11 needed two and a quarter hours to get past Stakhovsky, who won a pre-Wimbledon title on grass in the Netherlands.
Roddick fired nine aces and saved all three break points against his serve, with his number 46 opponent winning the second-set tiebreak to keep upset hopes alive.
But Roddick turned on the firepower in the final set as he swept to victory, his 36th of the season against nine defeats.
Roddick’s victory completed an American hat-trick on the day with Sam Querrey beating Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-4, and Taylor Dent putting out Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-2.
Dent fears he won’t be cast in the role of local hero when he plays the second round against Rafael Nadal.
Dent, a qualifier, put paid to an all-Spanish start for world number one Nadal after eliminating Lopez, one of the top seed’s friends and Davis Cup teammates.
“He gets a fair bit of support here,” Dent, whose last title came seven years ago before several back surgeries and two years off the court, said of the popular Nadal.
“Obviously I would love to say I’m gonna have more fan support than he is. But he’s one of the best players the game’s ever seen.
Hopefully I can win the crowd over on match point if I have a win.” Reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Nadal won the pair’s only meeting this spring on Miami hard court.
Dent said that if he is to have a chance against the Spaniard, beaten by Andy Murray in the Toronto semi—finals at the weekend, he has to try to dictate play.
“The best scenario: I go out on the court, and I’m hitting a lot of first serves in, hitting a lot of big second serves in and taking those first and second balls and really not giving him a chance to set up and hit forehands.” Elsewhere in the first round on a sunny day in the Midwest, after rain that interrupted Sunday’s women’s final, Los Angeles champion Sam Querrey rolled German Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-4.
The big-hitting American was limited to just seven aces, but he profitted by winning the first seven games against his 48th-ranked opponent. Petzschner committed 27 unforced errors and lost serve four times in the 50-minute hammering.
Stan Wawrinka flew the flag for Switzerland after Sunday’s Toronto finals loss by Roger Federer to Andy Murray, defeating 13th seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-3.
Frenchman Paul—Henri Mathieu advanced over Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, while Serb Viktor Troicki kept Czech injury comeback player Radek Stepanek winless on the ATP for a full six months with a 7-5, 6-1 match.
Michael Berrer beat Tommy Robredo 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) for Germany’s lone victory, after Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci put out Benjamin Becker 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
