Tennis seeds fall in Memphis: Andy Roddick v Sam Querrey

Tennis star Andy Roddick will be pleased with the way things are going for him in Memphis at the Regions Morgan Championships. Although he had a good first round battle against fellow American James Blake, Roddick, who has won this tournament four times, is through to the third round after beating Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round. Roddick, ranked 7th in the world started the tournament as top seed above Fernando Verdasco, ranked 11th, and Radek Stepanek, who is ranked 14th. But Roddick is sitting pretty now, as he has seen his main challengers in Verdasco, Stepanek and fourth seed Tommy Haas, all waive goodbye to the tournament. The biggest shock was Radek Stepanek’s exit to qualifier Kevin Anderson from South Africa. The world number 14th found himself in a tough battle right from the off, and could not get things together.

If Roddick was favourite before the tournament, then he is looking much stronger now. He does have two other seeds to get past though in his quarter, starting with 8th seed Sam Querrey, who is ranked 31st in the World. Out of five meetings, Roddick is 4-1 up over his fellow American, the most recent victory coming at San Jose, where Roddick won in three sets. Fifth seed Tomas Berdych is still in the hunt and could meet Roddick in the Quarter finals. It is from the second half of the draw where all the major casualties have occurred, leaving American John Isner all alone as the only seeded player in that half. This is the big tall Isner, who Andy Murray had to overcome in the Australian Open. Isner goes up against Ivo Karlovic in the third round. But the way should be straight forward for Roddick, who is enjoying a busy, yet productive start to the year. His quest is to make an impact again in the Grand Slams, and while he is doing great in the ATP tour tournament, his performance at the Australian Open, highlighted just how much gulf in class there is amongst the elite of the tennis world, and the chasing pack.

Third Round Match:
Andy Roddick to win: 4/9 at BetFred
Sam Querrey to win: 25/12 at Bwin