Tennis Chatter

Can you say that title five straight times?

It will surely be a popular showdown in the SAP Open semifinals between top-seed Andy Roddick and third-seed defending champion Andy Murray. Roddick disposed of fellowman Vincent Spadea 6-3 6-7 6-1, another match where the obviously better player blinked to hand the second set to the opponent. Frustrated with his errors, Roddick spewed hot-headedness, yelled at himself, hit a ball at the upper deck to earn a code violation, and showed obvious bad blood with Spadea on court. The latter earned some chilly reception from fellow players after he published a book about the men’s tour titled, Break Point: The Secret Diary Of A Pro Tennis Player. Holding on and scrapping his way in the match, at least Roddick redeemed himself in the emphatic decider set.
Andy Murray meanwhile smartly found a way to win against South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik 4-6 6-3 7-6. That was certainly a Brad Gilbert trademark there. With the way he was troubled for the past two matches, I think Andy should now get a new haircut to clear his hot head off a bit.

On the other side of the draw it will be a Becker-Karlovic show. Germany’s Benjamin Becker took advantage of all his opportunities against the off-timing Russian Marat Safin 6-4 6-3 to earn a place in the semifinal.

The towering 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic (right) interestingly fried world no. 25 Mardy Fish 7-6 (2), 6-4 spiced with his almost perfect serve and 17 aces. He was never threatened with a break point on his serve which registered 140mph. It did not help Fish much when he could not decipher the Karlovic serve. Where did this cannon-serving man come from all this time? Turns out he was injured for six months last year. The Croatian frustrated Fish to the point of slamming his racket when Karlovic finally got the only break in the match in the second set’s third game. From then on, Fish submitted to his fate.