Roddick upset, no more US males left again By Matt Cronin Thursday, May 26, 2005 Roddick and veterans Vince Spadea and James Blake all fell out of the tournament Thursday, leaving the US with no male players in the third round. Spadea went down to an oblique muscle early in the day, but it was Blake and Roddick's failures to pull out five set victories later on that had American fans shaking the heads. Roddick blew a 3-1 in the final set and went down 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 8-6 to the pumped up Argentine Jose Acasuso. After winning 14 straight matches on clay (although only one in a main draw ATP tournament here at Roland Garros), Blake began to cramp in the third set and lost to talented Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-7 (7-9), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4. Spade quit down 6-4, 6-3 because of a strained stomach muscle to No. 21 Tommy Haas. Five other American lost on Monday and Tuesday, including 1999 champion Andre Agassi. Like in 2004, when no American male made it past the first Wednesday, the red, white and blue was stained with dark smudges of clay. "Right now it stings. I don't think any of us are happy," Roddick said. "We all have a lot of pride. It's gotten taken down a lot in the last couple years here, there's no question. But I've been able to turn it around the last couple of years on the grass. I'll try to do it again." Roddick began the match by adeptly mixing up a serve and volley attack with solid defense and big forehands. But by the fourth set, the Argentine began to read his kick serve and actually out-aced Roddick in the match. Both men suffered from cramps in the fifth set, but Roddick appeared to have the edge when he scalded a forehand at the on-rushing Acususo's feet that the Argentine couldn't lift off the net for a 3-1 lead. Yet Roddick missed an easy inside out forehand to be broken back to 2-3. He then began to lose confidence, especially in his backhand, which he rarely landed beyond the mid-court area. He also was confused as to when to rush the net and rarely stuck his returns. Acasuso finally broke him when Roddick hit a soft approach shot that the Argentine whizzed past him with a brilliant crosscourt backhand. On match point, Roddick looked like former French champ Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, lifting three moonballs off his backhand side, the third one that Acasuso powered into the corner for a forehand winner. "I was trying to go and it just wasn't going," Roddick said. "He had switched the momentum in the third and the fourth, and I felt like I was trying to hang on a little bit. I wasn't able to." Roddick has only advanced to the third round once at Roland Garros in five attempts While he's won two medium sized titles this year, the former No. 1 is having trouble closing out matches in bigger events. He lost two tight contests to Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open and Indian Wells earlier this year and was beaten in the clincher against Ivan Ljubicic in Davis Cup. While's he still ranked No. 3, he's not closing out matches like a top five player. "I haven't [closed] one in the last couple," Roddick said. "The only thing I can do is keep working hard and try to prepare myself for it and turn the corner. It kind of goes in streaks like that sometimes." http://0rz.net/a80pf 法网官网新闻 -- ☆╭※╮☆ ╭═╯ ☆╭※╮☆ ╭╯│╰╮ ║ ╮ ╭ ╭═╮ ╭═╮ ╮ ╭ ╭╯│╰╮ ※─★─※ ╰═╮║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ※─★─※ ╰╮│╭╯ ╮ ║║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╰═╯ ╰╮│╭╯ ☆╰※╯☆ ╰═╯╰═╯ ╯ ╰ ╯ ╰ ╯ ☆╰※╯☆ --

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