Roddick sees off Gasquet for semi spot

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:59

The American, in his first competition since October due to a knee problem, broke his French opponent in the sixth game to claim the opening set and clinched the second on the tie-break to prevail 6-3 7-6 (7/5).

Roddick confirmed after his victory that he does not plan to compete in this year’s Davis Cup in order to protect his knee.

“In the Davis Cup my view has always been you decide at the beginning of the year whether to go to everything or not,” he said. “At this point we just decided that it was smarter, as far as long-term health is concerned, to at least be consistent with surfaces as much as possible.”

Czech Republic’s Berdych earlier booked his place in the semi-finals by defeating Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

The fourth seed did not have it all his own way in his first meeting with Bellucci, dropping the second set, but eventually bounced back to take the match 7-6 (7/4) 2-6 7-6 (7/3).

Things were tight from the outset with both players dropping serve, only for Berdych to triumph in the tie-break.

The 22-year-old eighth seed found his range in the second set to surprise Berdych by breaking him twice through a combination of angled volleys and drop shots.

The final set turned out to be a war of attrition with neither player facing a break-point on his serve, but it was to be the young Brazilian who would falter in the deciding tie-breaker, a double fault at 2-2 giving Berdych a sniff and he never looked back.

The other semi-final will be between Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek and Frenchman Gael Monfils, who advanced to the last four on Thursday by overcoming Americans Wayne Odesnik and James Blake respectively.

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