| Roddick Wins Third Career Title Andy Roddick defeated Sjeng Schalken in straight sets to win in Washington. Teenager Andy Roddick continued his rise on the ATP circuit by winning his third title of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Sjeng Schalken in the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington. The title was Roddick's first on hard courts following his back-to-back wins on clay in Atlanta and Houston earlier this year. "It's a big tournament and has a pretty big field," said Roddick, who gave his father Jerry the perfect birthday present as he and mom Blanche flew in especially to watch the final. "To get through a draw like that means a lot. I always expected to win my first title on hard courts rather than clay." While rain delayed the start of the final, Roddick began the match in typical fashion, serving an ace before breaking the Schalken serve in the fourth game of the opening set. A forehand error from Schalken gave Roddick the opening set with another break of serve, and the teenager soon found himself 3-1 in the second set with another trademark forehand winner. Rain delay But Schalken, who reached his first final of the year with a victory over top seed and five-time champion Andre Agassi, refused to lie down and broke back with a backhand pass down the line to get back on serve. After another rain delay of just over half an hour, Schalken served to level the set, but Roddick had other ideas, breaking for the fourth time in the match before holding serve to love to take the title. "I came up with some big serves at the key moments today," said Roddick. "My timing on the serves was good today and it bailed me out a few times." Roddick added: "I'd like to thank Andre for making Sjeng's leg tired." Schalken, who was playing in his second final on U.S. soil after Boston in 1997, said: "He played some fantastic tennis today. I had a couple of opportunities but Andy served them away. Those 135mphs felt like they were breaking my arm." On recovering from the biggest win of his career against Agassi on Saturday night, Schalken added: "I was very motivated for today's final. My legs were okay at the start, but once I started to go left-right, left-right, it started to get tough." |