Roddick: I was flawless
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ByEurosport
Published 23/01/2007 at 15:50 GMT
Andy Roddick said he played "flawless" tennis in demolishing best mate Mardy Fish to reach the Australian Open semi-finals. The former world number one beat his former high school friend in just one hour and 27 minutes, making just four unforced errors to
TENNIS; Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish; Australian Open day 8; 2007
Image credit: Reuters
"I played pretty flawless," Roddick told a news conference afterwards. "It's probably the best I've played against him. I think Mardy might have been a little bit nervous at the beginning as he made a few errors he wouldn't normally make.
"But that's about as well as I can play."
The former U.S. Open champion broke serve seven times, racing through the final set and sealing victory on his first match point when Fish sent a return beyond the baseline - although there was no elation from Roddick as the players
"Being that we're close, I think it takes away maybe a little bit of the elation because you're not really solely focused on your side of the court," Roddick said.
"I tried my best to kind of put our friendship to the back of my head before we went out there. It's a weird, weird situation."
"I started out pretty flat and he played really well," Fish said. "When he serves that well you know he's going to hold most of his serves.
"I tried to change things up a little bit but he puts so much pressure on you and I didn't feel like anything was working. Andy can go all the way and win the tournament."
The 24-year-old Roddick will play world number one Roger Federer in the semi-finals.
"I felt great going into the game physically and I feel like I'm hitting the ball well," Roddick said. "The gap on Roger has probably been closing a little bit and I'm playing about as well as I can."
Federer was also looking forward to the match, having dominated Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3 7-6 7-5 in just two hours and 20 minutes in their quarter-final duel.
"It's great to see Roddick doing well," Federer said. "We've had some great battles and I'm looking forward to that match. He's in good form, so I better play well."
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