DavisCup.com: Roddick hangs tough in Vienna

Andy Roddick gave the USA a 1-0 lead in their first round World Group tie in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas against Austria by defeating Jurgen Melzer in a five-set battle 64 46 63 67 63.

Melzer was highly motivated and started the match well, but the US star managed to avoid a first-game break with a series of aces. Roddick kept the momentum, breaking his opponent to go up 2-0. The 25-year-old American capitalised on his strong serve and Melzer’s faulty play, the Austrian committed no less than 13 baseline errors, to run to a 5-2 lead. However, the former ATP No. 1 failed to close the set early and Melzer, supported by 5,233 fans, came back. At 5-4 Roddick made up a 0-30 deficit by scoring four straight points to take the opening set in 40 minutes.

Early in the second set, Roddick suffered a lapse in concentration and gave away a break to allow Melzer a 2-1 lead. The Austrian pulled away 3-1, while his opponent continued to struggle. Attempting to keep the number of baseline errors low, Roddick sought his luck by attacking at the net. Regardless, the Austrian continued to dominate and levelled the match after one and a half hours, earning himself his first set win against the 2003 US Open winner.

Melzer stayed on a high, breaking Roddick again in the opening game of the third set. Despite clearly struggling with the clay court and slipping several times during the match, Roddick found his rhythm and managed two break backs to take a 5-2 lead. The slow clay court, chosen by the hosts, was only laid out three days ago and was still damp on the opening day. While Melzer’s first serve dropped to a low of 55 per cent, the US team’s number one acted much more aggressively and wrapped up the set 6-3.

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