TENNIS WORLD

World No. 6 Andy Roddick passed a testing second round encounter against Nicolas Mahut, firing 18 aces as he defeated the Frenchman 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3 on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Two breaks of serve in the fourth and sixth games secured the first set for the American, before he was pegged back in the second set as Mahut forced it to a tie-break and leveled the match on his fourth set point with a forehand winner. Roddick was quick to respond, breaking to lead 2-0 in the third set before closing out victory with his 18th ace after 1 hr., 50 min.
The 25-year-old Roddick captured the Rogers Cup title in 2003, defeating Roger Federer in the semifinal and David Nalbandian in the final, before going on to capture his only Grand Slam title at the US Open (d. Ferrero).
The Texan has titled twice this season; he defeated Radek Stepanek in the San Jose final and won in Dubai with victories over No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic before defeating Feliciano Lopez in the final.
Tommy Haas was in impressive form in his opening match, dropping just six points on serve in total as he defeated former World No. 1 Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2.
The German did not make an unforced error until the seventh game of the first set, after breaking Moya’s serve in the fourth game, and closed out the set after 24 minutes having only dropped two points on serve. The World No. 46 quickly capitalized on his advantage, racing to a 4-0 lead in the second set before closing out the match after just 54 minutes.
Watch Roddick's post-match interview
The 31-year-old Moya has now fallen first round at the Rogers Cup on four occasions, including last year against Marcos Baghdatis. Currently No. 28 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Moya reached the quarterfinals in Umag last week – the fourth time this season that he has reached the quarterfinals or better at an ATP event. The Mallorca native was runner-up at Costa do Sauipe in February, falling to Nicolas Almagro in the final.
Haas is making his ninth appearance at the Rogers Cup and has twice reached the semifinals in 2001 (ret vs. Pavel) and ’02 (l. to Canas). The No. 4 German, who returned to the ATP circuit at Delray Beach in February after undergoing minor surgery on his right shoulder, has made two quarterfinal exits this season at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells (W/O vs Federer) and last week at Indianapolis (l. to Simon). He now improves to 12-9 for the season and next will face No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko.
No. 16 seed Tomas Berdych, (pictured right) playing in his first event since finishing runner-up to Tommy Robredo at Bastad, improved to 22-14 for the season with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jarkko Nieminen. The Czech 22-year-old, who was a semifinalist at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (l. to Nadal), fired 12 aces and converted four of six break points to wrap up victory in 51 minutes.
Last week’s Indianapolis champion Gilles Simon made a strong start to his campaign with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over American qualifier Donald Young, who celebrates his 19th birthday tomorrow. The Frenchman, who is ranked a career-high No. 22 after capturing his fourth ATP title, failed to serve out victory at the first time of asking but immediately broke Young’s serve to close out victory after 59 minutes. He now advances to a second round meeting with World No. 1 Roger Federer.
World No. 44 Marin Cilic, who has reached the quarterfinals or better at two of his past three events, set up a second round meeting with No. 12 seed Tommy Robredo after defeating Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Elsewhere, American qualifier Jesse Levine, who was born in Ottawa, defeated Canadian qualifier Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-4 to advance to a second round meeting with No. 2 seed and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal.