Nasdaq Update: Roddick Roars Past Gruel

Andy said going into the fourth round that he felt “cautiously optimistic” and he had every right to be as he booked his place in the quarter finals of the Nasdaq-100 Open with a hard fought win over German qualifier, Simon Greul 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Greul, who made it to the fourth round with impressive wins over Henman, Hrbaty and Srichaphan, started the match nervously and was broken immediately as he made a lot unforced errors, totally 42 by the end of the match.

Andy, who was clad in his new Lacoste line, seized on the German’s inconsistency and dominated the first set. Serving consistently and powerfully, he served out the first set 6-3. Watched by a large support group including his coach/brother John Roddick, trainer Doug Spreen and manager Ken Meyerson, Andy took a commanding one set lead.

However, just as Greul did against Henman in the last round, Greul found his feet in the second set and made life much harder for Andy. He broke Andy at 3-2 on his second break point to lead 4-2, and held comfortably for 5-2. Reducing his number of unforced errors from the first set, Greul did not falter when he served for the second set, and levelled the match at one set all as hetook it 6-3.

“In the second set, I stopped returning well. He got into a groove and gained confidence,” Andy commented in his post-match ESPN chat. “If I had let him keep that momentum, the third set would have been tough.”

As for how Andy disrupted Gruel’s groove, Andy started by holding serve, and then quickly broke the groove with power and attitude, 2-0. With a 2-0 lead, down 0-15 in the third game, Andy threw out his first challenge without hesitation when an ace was called long. Though the call was correct, Andy quickly evened the score with another scorcher down the middle, 15-15. Gruel tried to throw off Andy’s groove by challenging two points in a row. Even though Greul won those points, Andy’s groove never faltered. He won that game and ran away with the lead, breaking Greul for a second time to take the set and the match, 6-3,3-6,6-2.

“I am competing very level-headed, I’m trying to win points,” Andy noted. The third set alone consisted of 30 winners from Andy, 92% of those points were won on his first serve, four aces, and an average match serving speed of 127.3 mph.

Andy moves on to face the winner of the Ferrer/O.Rochus match. Stay tuned for the latest on Andy’s progress. Go Andy!