Roddick and Stepanek at net in Brisbane. (Reuters)
Andy Roddick won his 28th career title at the Brisbane International after holding off defending champion Radek Stepanek 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7).
The first set was very close as both players used all parts of the court forcing things into a tiebreaker. But Stepanek played loose points and found himself down 4-0 allowing Roddick to serve it out 7 points to 2.
Roddick jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set after Stepanek had issues with his contact lenses and had to step off court to change them. Roddick served at 75% first serves and found success attacking the Stepanek backhand giving Roddick a 5-2 lead in the second.
But Stepanek refused to go away pumping himself up and the crowd. He broke Roddick twice to level things at 5-5 before Roddick sorted his game out and forced another tiebreak. Roddick jumped out to another early tiebreak lead to 5-1 and eventually had four match points. But Stepanek fought back and evened things to 6-6. Roddick found himself at 8-7 and finally won when Stepanek served a double fault on match point. Roddick joked during the awards ceremony that the title win was “never in doubt.”
It’s a nice start for Roddick after he was sidelined at the end of last year with a knee injury. With the win, Roddick now takes sole claim to the No. 3 spot of active players with the most ATP Tour titles behind Federer (61) and Nadal (31).
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