Americans went 4-0 in Tuesday’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic action, with Andy Roddick, John Isner, Mardy Fish and even qualifier Ryan Sweeting all notching straight set wins Tuesday.
Roddick was supposed the headliner of the evening, but was upstaged by #3 Fernando Verdasco, who preceded Roddick on the stadium court. Verdasco saved two match points in the second set before winning a third set tiebreak to put away pesky German Michael Berrer.
Roddick, who had been slated to start around 7 PM, didn’t take the court until closer to 9 o’clock because of the Verdasco-Berrer marathon.
Roddick was forced to play more long rallies than usual against tricky Slovenian qualifier Grega Zemlja, including one incredibly long one on the very first point of the match. But Roddick’s serve held up well, and one break in the middle of each set was enough for a 6-4, 6-4 win.
In front of a small crowd that stayed to watch well past midnight, John Isner 7-6(6), 7-6(8) in what were the huge-serving American’s 38th and 39th tiebreakers on the season, by far the highest total in the ATP.