Roddick Nips Grosjean for 2nd Straight Queen’s Title

LONDON, 14 June 2004 — Andy Roddick duplicated his 2003 finals victory over Sebastien Grosjean yesterday, defeating the Frenchman 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to lift a second consecutive title at the $860,000 Queen’s Club tournament.

Top seed Roddick scored a copy of his trophy performance from a year ago, when he also beat Grosjean in straight sets. The victory took 1hr 23min and puts the 21-year-old champion into solid position to threaten at the Wimbledon Championships beginning in eight days.

Roddick earned the 14th trophy of his career, his third of this season and improved his record to 10-1 at a venue where he has not lost since 2001.

“I served well today, I’m happy to have won here again,” said the American. “There’s not a lot that Sebastien doesn’t do well, so I had to concentrate on being aggressive.

Roddick, who termed himself “lucky” in the first set as he saved a pair of Grosjean set points, won the 48-minute opener on the back of ten aces, the last one fired over on the first of two set points. The pair exchanged quick breaks in the second before Roddick broke in the final game to end it, profiting from two backhand errors from the Frenchman.

Federer Thrashes Fish to Retain Halle Title

In Halle, Germany, world No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer crushed sixth-seeded American Mardy Fish 6-0, 6-3 in the final of the Halle Open yesterday.

Fish never got into the match as the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion broke him three times in the first set and once in the second to extend his winning streak on grass to 17 matches.

The Swiss wowed the spectators with a string of thumping passing shots, emphatic volleys and delicate drop shots, sending a warning to rivals hoping to take his Wimbledon crown when the grasscourt grand slam begins on June 21. “Of course I am really surprised at how this series of wins on grass is continuing,” Federer said modestly. Federer had beaten Fish in all three of their previous matches, although Fish was the only player to take a set off Federer at Wimbledon last year.

Sharapova Wins Battle of the Teens

In Birmingham, third seeded Russian Maria Sharapova won the battle of the teens yesterday when she ousted France’s Tatiana Golovin to win the DFS Classic.

The 17-year-old, who reached the semi-finals unseeded last year, came from behind to win through 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in 1hr 44min to claim her third WTA title against her 16-year-old opponent.

In the third youngest final in the Open Era, the duo, both products of the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, battled from the back of the court before Sharapova collected the first grasscourt title of her career to boost her Wimbledon challenge later this month.

Under the hot sun Golovin got off strongly, achieving the only break of the first set, but Sharapova soon got the measure of her opponent’s powerful serve, to reclaim the initiative.

Golovin called for the trainer after being broken for the second time in the deciding set and never got back into the match.

Sharapova is now 3-0 in WTA Tour finals, after winning her first two titles last year at Japan Open and Quebec City.

Russian-born Golovin, who has climbed to the brink of the world’s top 50 with her run in Birmingham, was competing in her first career WTA Tour final.

The record for the youngest players competing in a final against each other was in San Diego in 1991 when a 15-year-old Jennifer Capriati beat a 17-year-old Monica Seles.