Mahut v Roddick as it happened

June 18, 2007 at 1:47 pm · Filed under andy roddick, artois championships, gamewatch, mahut

Artois Ch’ships final result: N MAHUT (Fra) v A RODDICK (US)

6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (2-7)

 

GAME-BY-GAME UPDATES:

THIRD SET
Tiebreak: Roddick races to 5-0 lead before Mahut wins a point. He wins another for 5-2, but A-Rod makes it 6-2 and aces his opponent to lift his fourth Queen’s crown. He’s looking in good nick for Wimbledon, but well played that world number 106.

Mahut 6-6 Roddick The Frenchman fires down two more aces, misses a third by a couple of millimetres – we know because he challenged the out call – but closes out again. Tiebreak.

Mahut 5-6 Roddick
Roddick wins to love again but Mahut is still chasing down seemingly lost causes in one of the best Queen’s finals for donkeys’ years. A-Rod has the edge now.

Mahut 5-5 Roddick
Mahut makes an amazing diving recovery to return a Roddick dink over the net – A-Rod looks distinctly bemused. Mahut is still on fire – not bad for a man who has to play qualifying for Wimbledon this week.

Mahut 4-5 Roddick
Roddick’s turn to win to love, and now the pressure is on the Frenchman to hold and stay in the match.

Mahut 4-4 Roddick
Mahut surrenders two cheap points for 0-30 but recovers with a fine backhand volley, then levels at the net. He hits a second serve ace and closes out.

Mahut 3-4 Roddick
Roddick looks increasingly comfortable on his serve, but can he find a way to break Mahut’s?

Mahut 3-3 Roddick
Mahut is still serving well, winning to love as if to show Roddick he’s not about to let him take charge.

Mahut 2-3 Roddick
Mahut wins two long rallies for 15-30 but can only smile as his challenge on a A-Rod ace is proved wrong by about a foot. Roddick seems to winning the psychological battle.

Mahut 2-2 Roddick
Roddick successfully challenges a Mahut ace and hits a stinging backhand pass down the line but to no avail as the Frenchman holds with another untouchable serve – no challenge this time.

Mahut 1-2 Roddick
Another flawless service game from Roddick, whose serve is really firing now.

Mahut 1-1 Roddick
Mahut is doing well to hang in after the disappointment of the second-set tiebreak and he holds serve with a dinked dropshot.

Mahut 0-1 Roddick
Roddick is probably aware that now is his chance to strike at Mahut and he races through his service game.

“Mahut must put that missed match point out of his mind. If he dwells on it, he is right out of this match.”
BBC summariser John Lloyd

SECOND SET

Mahut 6-7 (7-9) Roddick
Mahut is the first man to take a point against serve but Roddick soon squares things up. A brave forehand from Roddick earns him a set point, which Mahut saves with an ace, that Roddick is convinced is long, even when Hawkeye proves otherwise. Roddick then saves a match point with some great defence at the net, which results in Mahut eventually finding the net. Roddick goes on to claim the tiebreak 9-7.

Mahut 6-6 Roddick
Roddick double-faults to go 15-30 down and Mahut is two points from a first ATP Tour title. But the Frenchman spurns two passing opportunities to allow Roddick to hold and force the tiebreak.

Mahut 6-5 Roddick
Roddick yells with determination as he goes 0-30 up on the Mahut serve. But the Frenchman again stays strong, leaving Roddick fuming with frustration.

Mahut 5-5 Roddick
Mahut throws himself around the court retrieving a Roddick volley but it’s all in vain as Roddick holds.

Mahut 5-4 Roddick
Mahut serves two double faults but composes himself and another ace secures the game and puts him within one game of the title.

Mahut 4-4 Roddick
Roddick holds to level things in the second set which is currently mirroring the first set.

Mahut 4-3 Roddick
Mahut cruises through his service game without dropping a point. He’s showing no signs of tightening up so far.

Mahut 3-3 Roddick
Another quickfire service hold from Roddick.

Mahut 3-2 Roddick
Roddick makes a half-hearted Hawkeye challenge but he’s already walking to his chair before the big screen confirms that the point and the game belong to Mahut. The trainer has a look at Mahut’s thumb at the changeover.

Mahut 2-2 Roddick
A beautiful volley puts Mahut 0-30 up on Roddick’s serve. But the 24-year-old second seed then pulls out a couple of huge serves to hold.

Mahut 2-1 Roddick
I shouldn’t have said that. Roddick makes as if to slam his racquet into the ground on a couple of occasions and berates himself angrily as an opportunity slips through his hands. Mahut, meanwhile, is struggling with his hands – a blister on his right thumb seems to be bothering him.

Mahut 1-1 Roddick
Roddick holds to love. If he is frustrated at losing that first set, he’s not letting it get to him.

Mahut 1-0 Roddick
Mahut is fired up now, pumping his fist after some great play at the net. So far his serve has rescued him at the slightest hint of trouble – and it does so again, as he battles from 30-30 and deuce to hold.

FIRST SET

Mahut 6-4 Roddick
Mahut is showing signs of being able to read Roddick’s serve a bit better and his first break point of the match gives him a set point. The American pokes a backhand long and suddenly the Frenchman is a set up.

“Roddick has never lost to a Frenchman in an ATP Tour final.”
BBC commentator Andrew Castle

Mahut 5-4 Roddick
Mahut again challenges a call but this time he’s wrong – Roddick’s backhand clipped the line. Two loose volleys from Mahut – one on either wing – give Roddick his first chance to break. Mahut has to stoop right down to pull off a much more difficult volley to save it. The Frenchman has come through another test.

Mahut 4-4 Roddick
The first Hawkeye challenge of the match sees Mahut successfully overturn an incorrect call. But he gets nowhere in the game, Roddick securing it with a 146mph ace.

“Mahut’s come through a couple of tests here. He’s done extremely well so far. He’s in this match big time.”
BBC summariser John Lloyd

Mahut 4-3 Roddick
Mahut’s best game so far. He powers a 96mph forehand winner down the line and then follows up with a delicate half-volley. This 25-year-old knows how to play on grass – how ironic that he is in the final at Queen’s yet will still have to negotiate his way through next week’s qualifying for Wimbledon.

Mahut 3-3 Roddick
A couple of routine aces from Roddick as he tears through his service game.

Mahut 3-2 Roddick
Roddick is chipping away at the Mahut serve and gets to deuce. But the Frenchman is standing up to the pressure so far and some more solid serving helps him to hold.

Mahut 2-2 Roddick
Roddick slams down a 150mph serve although the umpire calls a let. The American races through his service game.

Mahut 2-1 Roddick
Mahut is ranked more than 100 players below Roddick but in reality the gap is a lot closer. Some more deft serve-and-volleying from the Frenchman sees him hold.

“He looks a bit like Michael Stich, this fellow Mahut.”
BBC commentator Andrew Castle

Mahut 1-1 Roddick
Roddick doesn’t drop a point as he holds serve and even serve-volleys himself on one point – he’s normally a committed baseliner so that must be a sign of his current sky-high confidence.

Mahut 1-0 Roddick
Mahut begins ace, double fault. This is clearly going to be a serve-dominated match, Mahut displaying some traditional serve-volley tennis to hold to 15.

1400: The players are knocking up on court.

“If Andy Roddick plays as well as he did in his semi-finals, Mahut is going to have to serve exceptionally well to have a chance in this match.”
BBC summariser John Lloyd

1351: It’s dry and sunny at the moment in west London but the skies over Queen’s Club are far from blue and cloudless.

Second seed Andy Roddick is hoping to fine-tune his Wimbledon preparations with his fourth Queen’s Club title.

The American has lost just two of the 24 singles matches he has played at the London venue and won the tournament, now called the Artois Championships, three years in a row from 2003 to 2005.

Standing in the former world number one’s path is the unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

The 25-year-old is a lowly 106 in the world rankings but knocked out world number two Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals earlier in the week.

He is also no stranger to grass, having won the Wimbledon junior title in 2000.

Story from BBC SPORT:

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