Roddick tops Blake in straight sets

WINSTON-SALEM - The Associated Press

Roddick beat fellow American James Blake to advance to the second round. REUTERS photo

Andy Roddick ground out a straight-set victory over James Blake in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open on Aug. 20.

Fifth seed Roddick overcame a shaky start to beat Blake 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6) in the final hard-court tournament before the U.S. Open.

“I’ve rarely been unhappy walking off the court with any win,” said Roddick, a former world No. 1 and U.S. Open champion who has battled injuries the past two years.

“I was fortunate to get through the first set, because (Blake) came out of the gates pretty hot. The second set I played well. I’ve been lucky a lot in my career. I’m good at winning those type of matches where it doesn’t look that great all the time.”

Roddick had 11 aces, but had to overcome an early break to force a tiebreaker in the first set. He then got a break in the second set to force another tiebreaker and improve to 9-3 against Blake.

In other matches, Polish Lukasz Kubot defeated Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-1, 2-6, 6-2; Michael McClure downed Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4; German Benjamin Becker beat Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine downed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.