Andy Roddick, tournament sixth seed, lost his cool and his chances of a first Australian Open title when he was upset in the third round by German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in a five-set thriller.
In a match that finished after 2:00am local time in Melbourne, the American was ousted by Kohlschreiber 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6, after a marathon three hours and 53 minutes of intense tennis.
Roddick, who served a career best 46 aces, was handed his earliest exit from the Australian Open since his debut in 2002.
After the first two sets were split, both men had set points in the third but Kohlschreiber took the tiebreak 9-7 to go one set up.
|
"I was just thinking 'don't make mistakes'."
Philipp Kohlschreiber |
Roddick lost his temper with umpire Emmanuel Joseph in the fourth set and had several clashes with the official throughout the match, but seemed to regain his composure to pinch the penultimate set in a tiebreak and move level.
Although Roddick saved four match points at 4-5 in the final set, Kohlschreiber broke his more heralded opponent in the 14th game to take the match.
"I was just thinking 'don't make mistakes'," Kohlschreiber said afterwards.
"I just said full power on every shot, and it worked out perfectly.
"In the last game I just played four amazing shots... for Roddick it's his serve, for me it's my backhand."
The German, whose best Grand Slam performance is reaching the fourth round at the 2005 Australian Open where he lost, ironically, to Roddick, will now play Finn Jarkko Nieminen in the fourth round.
Kohlschreiber is on an eight-match winning streak after winning the Heineken Open in New Zealand where he beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.