Roddick cruises past Sabau to Clinch Davis Cup tie for U.S.

Roddick cruises past Sabau to Clinch Davis Cup tie for U.S.~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
La Jolla--

A low-octane Andy Roddick sliced through an overmatched Razvan Sabau of Romania 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 Sunday morning to secure the United States’ spot in the Davis Cup’s second round in April. The U.S. will host Chile, a first round winner over the Slovak Republic at a site to be determined.

Roddick admitted his goal was to win in straight sets given his still undiagnosed illness on Friday. It wasn’t until Saturday evening when his appetite returned that “Operation Resuscitation” as he dubbed it, was deemed complete. But he still wasn’t interested in assessing his stamina.

“I felt fine but I wasn’t wanting to test it too much and find out how deep I could go here,” Roddick said. “I felt horrible the other day after my match. I didn’t want to test those waters.”

Fortunately for Roddick, Sabau, the emergency substitute for injured Victor Hanescu, wasn’t ready to play the match of his life.

“I wish I could have done more than I did because I saw that Roddick was not hundred percent,” said Sabau, 112th in the ATP rankings. “He was defensive and he stayed a very long distance behind the baseline. I was expecting him to attack me.”

Instead Roddick began the match slicing to Sabau’s backhand, not giving the twenty-eight year old from Bucharest any chance to line up his best shot, the down-the-line backhand.

“Early on I was doing some slices, wasn’t in a rush to finish points off as quickly,” Roddick said. “I wanted to see if he could create on an outdoor hard court.”

Roddick got his answer- no- and he also benefited from nine double faults from Sabau, who has been nursing a sore elbow.

“I am okay now…I played with pain for six months,” Sabau said. “Even though I was able to play, I couldn’t practice my serve, and I think as everybody could see today, my serve is not good at all. I try just to get the first serve in to be able to play the point, but it’s not enough against a player as good as Roddick.”

Captain Patrick McEnroe now begins the search for a grass court venue, a surface that Roddick publicly lobbied for when Bud Collins interviewed him on court after the match, and later in the post match press conference.

“Grass is probably my best surface…..in the doubles I think it’s huge as well. So you know, as far as Xs and Os, I feel like a grass court would be the best surface for us.”

A Davis Cup stalwart who has now clinched six ties for the U.S., Roddick’s wish may be McEnroe’s command. Even after Roddick’s disappointing loss on Friday and James Blake’s two wins, including a 6-1, 7-5 dead rubber win over Horia Tecau Sunday, McEnroe insisted that Roddick remains the keystone of the team.

“He is a leader and he’s been around long enough and he’s won a lot of big matches for us,” McEnroe said. “I love his effort, his intensity. When he was vomiting on the court and was still able to somehow miraculously almost pull it out in the fifth set, I think that sort of set the tone for us for the year, to be honest, his type of effort.”

The entire team heads up the California coast to play in the SAP ATP event in San Jose, and the onboard conversation could turn to court surface for the Chile tie.

“We’re all flying to San Jose,” Blake said. “We’ll probably talk about it a little bit on the plane and see what we think. I think with Andy and the Bryans wanting grass so adamantly, I think it makes sense for our choice.“

IF that’s what the team decides, McEnroe promises to take up the cause.

“If all the guys definitively tell me they prefer one thing over another, then I have to use my pull to make that happen.”