The Beast plays own tune
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ByEurosport
Published 04/11/2004 at 21:49 GMT
Max Mirnyi and Andy Roddick walked onto Court Central at the Paris Masters on Thursday to music trashed by the live band employed for the week. By the end of the 65-minute third round encounter, the "Beast of Belarus" was singing his own tune, Louis Armst
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The 27-year-old from Minsk had failed to win his three previous meeting against Roddick, but out-served and out-paced the American top seed for a 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 victory.
By the time the pair reached their fifth tie-break in nine sets played, Roddick had struggled to hold in games three, seven and eleven.
The former world number one, who had been out of action for a month after the U.S. Open, looked rather lethargic and got heated by the slightest of mistakes.
With his record-breaking service not firing, the 22-year-olds game and confidence fell to pieces and despite a brief rally in the tie-break never looked in contention.
Time and time again, Roddick looked to his coach Brad Gilbert , the Paris finalist in 1987 and 1988, for inspiration.
A break of serve early in the second set, proved Roddick to be a spent force.
The stage was then set for Mirnyi to produced a serve-volley master class, honed on the doubles courts of the world, and book his place in the quarter-finals having lost just eight points on serve.
Mirnyi will meet Robin Soderling in Friday's quarter-final, following the Swede's 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory over 29-year-old Cyril Saulnier of France.
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