Roddick Pulls Double Duty For 600th Win

© AFP/Getty ImagesAndy Roddick is the 19th player in the Open Era to reach 600 wins.

Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick reached the 600 match wins plateau Friday at the AEGON International with victories in his quarter-final and semi-final matches in Eastbourne. He is the 19th player in the Open Era to record 600 match wins and joins Roger Federer as the only active players to have attained the milestone.

The sixth-seeded American prevailed against Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in his first match Friday, which had been postponed due to rain Thursday, and led Steve Darcis 6-3, 3-1 in the semi-finals when the Belgian retired with a back injury after one hour of play. World No. 72 Darcis earlier defeated Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-2, 7-6(4).

"It was tough, some of the toughest conditions; I can't remember much tougher that I've played in," admitted Roddick. "That wind out there is frightening. It's tough. It's not as much as about tennis today as just kind of getting through it. There's going to be some lucky points. There's going to be some that you have no business losing. 

"My favourite thing, I had one double fault in four sets in this stuff today. It was just shocking in this wind. I wouldn't have bet on myself for that at the beginning of the day."

Roddick, 29, advances to his first final since February 2011 when he defeated Canadian Milos Raonic in Memphis to claim his 30th tour-level title. He has a 30-20 record in finals, including a 4-3 mark on grass. He contested his last grass-court final at the 2009 Championships at Wimbledon, when he famously lost to Federer in a 16-14 fifth set.

Prior to this week, the American had not won a tour-level match since defeating Federer in the third round of the Sony Open Tennis in March.

Roddick will face defending champion Andreas Seppi in the final after the third seed defeated American Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-1 in the second semi-final. Roddick won their one previous meeting, in 2008 at the US Open.

Seppi, nicknamed Andy, reached a career-high No. 24 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings this month following strong performances on European clay. He won his second ATP World Tour title in May at Belgrade, and followed by reaching the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final in Rome (l. to Federer) and fourth round at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic).

Earlier Friday, Seppi led seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 2-1 when the German was forced to retire with an ankle injury. Meanwhile, the No. 53-ranked Harrison overcame Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 40 minutes.

TV Schedule  | Buy Tickets