Enqvist Conquers Roddick To Reach Semis

Thomas Enqvist confirmed he is back to his best after defeating top seed Andy Roddick to reach the semifinals of the Kroger St. Jude. Enqvist, playing in his fifth Memphis quarterfinal, advanced to the last four for the first time with a 7-6(8), 6-3 victory to set up a meeting with Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer.

“I played great,” said Enqvist. “Obviously I knew before that if I have any chance that I would have to play my best and I played really well. Things went my way, I took some chances and that first set could have gone either way, but at least I put myself in with a chance of winning and I felt I was playing really good. I’m very satisfied not only with the win but with the way I played.

Nervous

The 29-year-old Enqvist saved a set point in the first set tie-break and broke Roddick’s serve to lead 3-1 in the second before clinching victory on his fifth match point.

“I was a bit nervous trying to close it out,” said the Swede. “It wasn’t that bad actually. I felt I was playing great. I had one really great chance on his serve. I was actually surprised that my return went that good. I just put my racquet on it and he hit a sliced forehand, but other than that, he hit three aces. Then on my serve, I had 40-0 and he came back to 40-30, but it went my way.”

Roddick, who woke in the morning suffering from back spasms, received treatment throughout the day before taking to the court.

“I woke up with a little case of back spasms this morning,” said Roddick. “I had some chiropractic work done and I felt like I was ready to go. I definitely didn’t want to let the fans down out there. I don’t think it would have made any difference if I was healthy. He played really well.

Warmed up

“This afternoon I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play or not. Then I kept working on it, warmed up for a little bit and just tried as best I could.”

The 21-year-old, who was attempting to win reach his third consecutive Memphis final having won the title in 2002 and losing to Taylor Dent in the championship match last year, arrived here having won the Siebel Open in San Jose a week ago. But despite sending down 17 aces, he failed to convert any of his three break points in the match and eventually succumbed to the Swede in 1 hour, 18 minutes.

“He plays great indoors,” said Roddick afterwords. “He came out, we had some good rallies and he just played better on the big points. I just didn’t bring it enough.”

Enqvist is now just two matches away from claiming his 20th ATP career title - and his first since Marseille in 2002. The Swede, who reached a career-high No. 4 in 1999 but slipped to 95 at the end of 2003, has won 11 of his 19 titles indoors. He is playing in his first semifinal since Stockholm at the end of last year.

“I’ve been playing so well here in Memphis,” added Enqvist. “I love that court and it suits my game perfect and it was nice to finally reach that semifinal and hopefully I can take it even further this time. Roddick’s one of the best players in the world, so I’m very satisfied.”