Andy Roddick, the top seed, was knocked out of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship in Memphis on Friday night by fellow American Sam Querrey in their quarter-final, before pulling out of the Dubai Tennis Championship, citing fatigue. Querrey, who lost to Roddick last week in San Jose, had 15 winners and only three unforced errors in the final set as he won 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. "It was a huge win," said Querrey, who was selected for the US Davis Cup team on Wednesday.
"Anytime you get a top-10 win it's a really big boost for your confidence, especially against Andy. He's someone I've looked up to over the last four or five years." Roddick was broken twice in the final set, firstly on a double-fault to fall behind 2-0 and again two games later when a forehand volley sailed long. The defending Memphis champion said a double-fault in the second game of the final set cost him.
"I played a real irresponsible game up 40-15," said Roddick. "I missed a couple of routine shots. There's no [excuse] for that. And then I double-faulted, which is rare. There's no real defence for that." In France, Michael Llodra made up for missing out on a wine-tasting evening with friends by beating Robin Soderling, the top seed, 7-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Marseille Open on Friday night.
"I couldn't lose that game because I was supposed to take part in a Chateau-Latour tasting today with friends, including Amelie Mauresmo, and I was really upset to miss that one," said the Frenchman. "Maybe that's the reason why I played an almost perfect match." Soderling, who won his first title of the year in Rotterdam last Sunday, said: "He served well, he volleyed well, so it was tough today as he played very well.
"It is tough to say but maybe I should have done things a little bit differently especially in my return games." * Agencies