Roddick Captures 2008 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
- American number one seed digs deep to defeat an inspired Lopez and win maiden title in Dubai-
Dubai, UAE, March 8th, 2008: What a way to end the 2008 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships! Andy Roddick, playing in Dubai for the first time, overcame a valiant challenge from unseeded Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez to win 6-7 6-4 6-2. He didn’t lose his serve all week, he didn’t even face a break point in the final, and his ace total for the week was 84.
Lopez, who had already beaten three top 10 players - Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko - pushed the sixth seeded American all the way, until two costly errors late in the second set gave Roddick some breathing space and ultimately decided the outcome.
Lopez was under pressure in the first set, saving a break point at 1-0 and two more at 4-3, and he also faced a set point in the tiebreak when Roddick led 7-6. But he saved that with his 10th ace of the match, and eventually took the tiebreak 10-8 when Roddick sent a return over the baseline.
In the second set, with both players serving well neither managed to earn a break point until, at 4-4, Lopez made a backhand error and then hit a double-fault to gift Roddick a crucial break.
The American served out the set to love, and then immediately broke Lopez again to begin the final set. Lopez let down a little after that and never looked capable of turning the match back in his favour, and Roddick all but tied things up with a further break for 5-2.
“I’m excited,” said Roddick. “I stated a couple of weeks ago that a big part of my decision to come here was to try to get a shot at the top players and I was able to do that, and success here has made it look like it was a good idea. I’m just happy to be playing really good tennis right now.”
Even when the second set began to come down to the wire, Roddick remained confident that he could turn things around.
“The whole time I felt like I was playing well. It’s not like I’m down a set and it’s 4-4 and I’m really struggling to hit the ball. Every point I was confident I was going to play the point I wanted to the next point.
“I don’t think I missed a ball in the tiebreaker but I lost it, obviously not making a return (on the final set point). He was playing too good, but I find if you put enough pressure on someone sometimes they crack, and he did in the second set. Then in the third set I played very well.”
Lopez knew he had let a golden opportunity slip away in just a couple of points.
“I’m very disappointed,” he said. “I think I played almost perfect the first two sets. Two mistakes at 4-4 cost me the second set, then in the third I was feeling a little bit tired. He was returning my serve much better and playing better from the baseline, so it was tough for me to win the points.
“Of course when you win the first set you always think you have a good chance to win the match, but I was sure that Andy wasn’t going to give up and he was serving huge and he was not going to give me anything.
“But I beat three top 10 players which is unusual in one week, and I’m so happy with my game this week. Hopefully this is going to help me out for the rest of the season.”
