What was supposed to be an easy day for Andy Roddick turned out
to be a trial. What was supposed to be a triumph ended in pain.
In the third set of the No. 1 seed’s hard-fought 6-7(3),
6-3, 6-2 victory over American Scott Oudsema, Roddick felt a sharp
stabbing pain in his side that may force him to withdraw from the
Countrywide Classic.
“If it feels like it does now, I don’t know that
there’s a lot of hope for tomorrow,” Roddick said.
“Weirder things have happened, but it doesn’t feel too
good right now.”
Roddick iced his side after the game, but maintained that he was
in as much pain after the game as he was when he first felt the
injury.
The injury overshadowed what was a spectacular performance from
a virtual unknown. Oudsema, who had played in one ATP event prior
to the Countrywide Classic, surprised the fans in Straus Stadium
with his hard serves and aggressive style. He took the initial set
7-6 after winning the tiebreaker and appeared to have Roddick well
in hand by matching his style.
But a victory over Roddick was not to be. Oudsema’s nerves
appeared to become a factor, as more and more balls that he had hit
in the corners in the first set were starting to go wide. And
Roddick himself settled down.
“When I started putting two and three balls into a rally,
the match turned around pretty quickly,” Roddick said.
“I wasn’t really happy with the way I played (in the
first set).”
Roddick was able to gut through the final set despite the pain
because he “wasn’t going to give (Oudsema) the
win.” Oudsema and Roddick exchanged yells during the match,
and both seemed to be fired up by the competition.
Roddick, if he does continue, will face eighth seeded Dmitry
Tursunov in the next round. Tursunov defeated rising American star
Sam Querrey in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday.
IN OTHER MATCHES: Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia
defeated Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 7-5, 6-4 and American Robby
Ginepri beat Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. Carlsen,
possessor of a wicked serve, often caught Ginepri out of position
to field his service, but the No. 4 seed ultimately survived and
moved on to face Hrbaty in the next round.
UPCOMING: Andre Agassi will face Fernando
Gonzalez of Chile in Friday’s first match at 1 p.m., followed
by the Bryan brothers competing in a doubles match against Mardy
Fish and Justin Gimelstob. Tommy Haas of Germany will face American
Paul Goldstein no earlier than 3:30 p.m., and then the night
matches starting at 7:30 p.m. will be Roddick against Tursunov and
Ginepri against Hrbaty.