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Disaster strikes Rocket Roddick in shock defeat by Bjorkman
Doha, Jan 08: Top-ranked Andy Roddick of the United States was upset by Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-3 6-4 in the second round of the US$1 million Qatar Open.
Doha, Jan 08: Top-ranked Andy Roddick of the United States was upset by Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-3 6-4 in the second round of the US$1 million Qatar Open.
Bjorkman reached the quarterfinals by negating Roddick's powerful forehand and handling the US Open champion's big serve.
"Everybody is entitled to a bad day and the same thing happened with me," Roddick said. "It was far from my best day on a tennis court."
Roddick was broken in the sixth game of the match, falling behind 4-2, and the 30th-ranked Bjorkman served out the first set.
"I was not in my element at all," Roddick said. "I couldn't see the ball clearly because of poor visibility. There was quite a bit of dirt flying around.
"It was hard out there because we had a strong wind blowing across the court. I simply couldn't reach out to a few shots. I was missing many easy shots on my forehand, which doesn't happen very often.
"The conditions weren't too easy to handle but then that was the case for both of us. But I must admit it was quite windy and shot-making very difficult," the American said.
Bjorkman also broke Roddick to open the second set.
"The key to my win today was my good serves. It is not everyday that you have more aces than Roddick, but I managed that today," Bjorkman said. "I thought Roddick made a lot (more) mistakes today than he normally does."
Bureau Report
Bjorkman reached the quarterfinals by negating Roddick's powerful forehand and handling the US Open champion's big serve.
"Everybody is entitled to a bad day and the same thing happened with me," Roddick said. "It was far from my best day on a tennis court."
Roddick was broken in the sixth game of the match, falling behind 4-2, and the 30th-ranked Bjorkman served out the first set.
"I was not in my element at all," Roddick said. "I couldn't see the ball clearly because of poor visibility. There was quite a bit of dirt flying around.
"It was hard out there because we had a strong wind blowing across the court. I simply couldn't reach out to a few shots. I was missing many easy shots on my forehand, which doesn't happen very often.
"The conditions weren't too easy to handle but then that was the case for both of us. But I must admit it was quite windy and shot-making very difficult," the American said.
Bjorkman also broke Roddick to open the second set.
"The key to my win today was my good serves. It is not everyday that you have more aces than Roddick, but I managed that today," Bjorkman said. "I thought Roddick made a lot (more) mistakes today than he normally does."
Bureau Report