Tipsarevic Rocks Roddick In Second Round; Isner Advances

© Getty ImagesJanko Tipsarevic celebrates a Top 10 victory at the US Open.

Serbian Janko Tipsarevic dealt a huge blow to American title hopes at the US Open as he surprised past champion and World No. 9 Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4) in second-round action Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Roddick had never lost at this stage of the US Open, going 8-0 in his second round matches, and got off to a good start as he sealed the first set with one break of serve.

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But the 44th-ranked Tipsarevic, who had never advanced beyond the second round at Flushing Meadows, came up with a break in the 12th game of the second set to level the match. He stepped his game up another notch in the third set, dropping just five points behind his serve and delivering an impressive backhand passing shot on set point.

"I was playing a little bit more risky (in the third set), but I don't feel that I was rushing too much," said Tipsarevic. "I was trying that in the first set, and I played a really good first three games and then I made two mistakes... and there's the break. Of course, I made a couple of unbelievable shots from back of the court, but most of the winners that I made I was stepping in and being close to the line. That's the point on the court where I'm most dangerous."

Roddick had rallied from down two-sets-to-one just four times in his career, and was unable to improve his 4-19 record in those situations despite winning 95 per cent of points behind his first serve in the fourth set. Tipsarevic prevailed in the tie-break to complete the upset in three hours and 18 minutes, finishing the match with 66 winners to Roddick's 40.

It marked Roddick's earliest exit at a Grand Slam tournament since 2008 at Wimbledon, also a loss to Tipsarevic. The Serbian went on to reach the fourth round that year, to date his best showing at a major. 

"On my little cheat sheet that (coach) Larry (Stefanki), and I put together, I wanted to keep my unforced errors down, which I did," said Roddick. "He's going to take big swings at the ball. I wanted to make him do that from stretch positions, maybe on the move; I did that. I wanted to get a very high percentage of returns in play; I did that... He played very high risk and executed for four sets. I kept telling myself, 'This has to have an expiration date on it.' Unfortunately, I needed another set for that."

Added Tipsarevic: "At Wimbledon, when I won, I felt that I was lucky and that Andy choked at important moments. But here, I feel it was a different story. From my point of view, it was a high-quality match."

Roddick's last six losses have now all come against players ranked outside the Top 30, starting with his defeat to Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili in the third round of Roland Garros.

Tipsarevic, who next faces Gael Monfils after the Frenchman defeated Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 earlier Wednesday, improved to an 8-10 record against Top 10 players. This was his third Top 10 win in a Grand Slam tournament; he also defeated No. 6 Fernando Gonzalez in the third round at Wimbledon in 2007.

Neither player had come into the year's final Slam with a clean bill of health, Roddick recently hampered by a mild case of mono and Tipsarevic nursing an ankle injury suffered three weeks ago in Toronto.

American John Isner had also been questionable before the US Open after damaging ligaments in his right ankle two weeks ago in Cincinnati, but comfortably made his way through his opening match 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 47 minutes. He did not face a single break point on serve, while winning three of his 19 break points against Portugul's Frederico Gil.

World No. 19 Isner is now the highest-ranked American remaining in the draw, and will next face Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli, who defeated 17-year-old American wild card Jack Sock 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Isner reached the fourth round last year at the US Open after defeating Roddick in a fifth-set tie-break.