Tuesday 16th February, 2010 13

ble!” After Verdasco held in that game for a 4- 2 lead, Roddick screamed into his towel, “Make them all machines! All of them! Verdasco rallies to beat Roddick Automated scorekeeper.” Roddick held his tongue the rest of the match, often mutter- ing to himself after his mistakes. fortunate net-cord wide to lose the game. He whacked a ball Roddick had won in his three previous winner to earn three into the second deck, earning a code viola- trips to the final of this tournament but was break-point chances, tion warning from the umpire. unable to pull off his fourth despite having In SAP Open final leading Roddick to The frustration only grew later in the his swimsuit model wife, Brooklyn Decker, throw his racket at set. Roddick blew four break-point chances watching courtside on Valentine’s Day. by Josh Dubow it 30-all and Roddick followed by hitting a the net. in the following long off a 93 mph second serve. Roddick game, then took out SAN JOSE, California (AP) - Second- Verdasco then closed it out his 15th ace. erased one break his anger on the offi- seeded Fernando Verdasco rallied to beat Verdasco had lost seven consecutive opportunity cials in the sixth top-seeded 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 Sunday matches to Roddick. His only previous wins before hit- game. in the SAP Open for his fourth career title. came when Roddick retired in a 2005 match ting a Roddick was Verdasco had lost 15 straight matches and when Roddick overruled a linesman back- upset at a ball that he against top-10 players before breaking on what would have been his match hand thought should have through against seventh-ranked Roddick. point only to see Verdasco rally for the been called out and Verdasco became the first Spaniard to win a three-set win in Rome. yelled at the umpire, title in the Bay Area since Manuel Santana After breaking Verdasco’s “You can’t see if the did it in 1964 in Berkeley. serve twice to win the opening ball is an inch out! This matchup lacked the high level of set, Roddick seemed in con- ... It’s not possi- play and intensity of the last trol of the match. But final between the top Verdasco broke through seeds in this tourna- for his first break in ment back in 2002, the third game of when top-seeded the second set to take a 2-1 lead. beat Andre He hit win- Agassi 4- ners on the 6, 7-6, first two 7-6. points, then was the ben- eficiary of a

But there were a few tense moments in the final set when both players were dominating their serves. The servers lost only two points in the first five games of the Fernando Verdasco, of , holds final set with up his trophy after beating Andy Roddick taking a Roddick 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the finals of 3-2 lead. Verdasco the SAP Open tournament earned the only Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010, in San Jose, break point of Calif. (AP Photos/George Nikitin) the final set with a backhand cross-court win- ner at 30-all in the ninth game. Roddick then hit a forehand volley into the top of the net on the follow- ing point, giving Verdasco a 5-4 lead. Verdasco lost the first two points on his service game, before Andy Roddick winning the final four. His 141 mph ace made Ferrero beats Kobut to win Brazil Open COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil (AP) - Top-seeded beat Lukasz Kobut of Poland 6-1, 6-0, to win the Brazil Open on Sunday. The former No. 1 ranked player needed only one hour to become the third Spaniard in a row to win the clay-court event. Nicolas Almagro won the title in 2008 and was last year’s champion. Kobut repeatedly missed his first serve, giving Ferrero too much help. The Spanish player was 5-0 up in the second set and broke Kubot’s serve to clinch the title. It was Ferrero’s 13th ATP title, and it came just two days after turning 30. “You never expect to play a one-sided final like this,” Ferrero said. “One is always nervous in the beginning of a final, and it wasn’t different today. I thought I played well from the beginning and with two breaks of serve ahead quite early in the match I never looked back.” It was a welcome victory for Ferrero, who lost in opening round matches in his first two tournaments of the season - the Heineken Open in New Zealand and the . It was Kubot’s second ATP singles final, and his second loss. “It is very unfortunate I couldn’t play my best tennis today,” Kubot said. “Juan Carlos played a great match and didn’t give me any chances.”

Juan Carlos Ferrero