Andy Defeats Bjorkman In A Close 3 Sets.

Nasdaq 100 Open 3rd round match, Key Biscayne Miami.

On paper this was going to be a tough match for Andy, and it certainly was! Each had 2 victories a piece, Bjorkman with the most recent victory in Doha this year, and it dawned on me on the journey over to Key Biscayne that the first match I ever saw Andy play was against Bjorkman at Nottingham in 2002! I panicked: Was I going to be a bad omen for this match?! Fortunately the result turned out better than last time with Andy winning in 3 sets 64, 36, 63.

This was also an exciting match for me as it was my first professional tennis match in the US, and my first night match! I’m a volunteer at the tournament so had complimentary seats up in the bleachers. I’d never been up so high in a tennis stadium, and to start with the atmosphere was rather strange to me - it was almost as if there wasn”t an atmosphere as you”re in the open air and far from the noise!

But as the match progressed and the stadium filled the atmosphere got more exciting, and as expected the crowd was overwhelmingly in Andy’s favour! There were some original cheers including one that had the whole crowd to clap if you loved Andy!!

The match itself was pretty intense, particularly the 2nd set where Andy lost his serve and subsequently the set. The first he took convincingly 6-4 breaking Bjorkman in the opening game, and broke to lead in the 3rd only to get broken straight back. His focus seemed to be waining a little and he was clearly frustrated with himself (he broke a racket and had heated words with the umpire- I couldn”t hear what was said but his arms were waving!), especially when he missed an easy volley.

Bjorkman was also returning the Roddick serve very well. Finally he broke Bjorkman for a 3rd time, which was a big relief for Andy fans, and he served out the match taking the final set 6-4. Though his unforced errors were more than double that of Bjorkman (21-9), this was a good win for Andy who despite obvious frustration, kept it together and won the match. For me it was a tense but exciting first US tennis match! Roll on the rest of the week!