Indianapolis (USA), July 28: Top seed Andy Roddick played clever tennis in tough, windy conditions to beat second seed Paradorn Srichaphan 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 in the final of the 600,000-dollar ATP hardcourt tournament here. The sixth-ranked Roddick claimed his third title of the year after starting the week off in trouble against France's Cyril Saulnier, who led their second-round match by a set and a service break.
By yesterday, however, roddick was playing top quality tennis.
"I never like saying I'm playing my best because, hopefully, two days from now I'll be playing better," said Roddick, who has now won six of his eight career titles in the United States. "I think at queen's and Wimbledon, I was playing close to my best. It's definitely exciting these past couple of months."
Roddick has now beaten Paradorn in three of their four meetings.
Considering the fact that he had to stave off two match points when playing amateur Amer Delic in the second round, Paradorn was happy to have had a shot at Roddick in the final.
"It's the first week of hard courts so I'm happy," said Paradorn, whose lone title this year came in Chennai. "Since yesterday and today, it was tough conditions out there with the wind. In both of my matches I had to try and stay strong."
Roddick adeptly mixed up rallies from the baseline with selective net approaches.
But it was his serve, which brought in 15 aces that ruled his performance in the final. Bureau Report