Andy Roddick pulled the United States level with Switzerland in their Davis Cup World Group tie yesterday after Stanislaus Wawrinka shrugged off the absence of Roger Federer to put the visitors ahead.
Andy Roddick pulled the United States level with Switzerland in their Davis Cup World Group tie yesterday after Stanislaus Wawrinka shrugged off the absence of Roger Federer to put the visitors ahead.
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Roddick defeated Marco Chiudinelli 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to knot the score in the best-of-five match tie at 1-1 at the end of the first day.
It was Roddick's 40th win the international team competition, putting alongside Andre Agassi on the all-time US list. He gets a day off today as the Bryan twins combine in doubles against Switzerland's Wawrinka and Yves Allegro.
Roddick ripped through the first two sets and lost only two points through the eighth game of the third.
But Chiudinelli, ranked 341st in the world, took it into a tiebreaker before Roddick finally snatched the win in just over two hours.
Roddick's success calmed the waters in front of 15,000 fans at the first tie ever held in Alabama after James Blake made a stuttering start.
Wawrinka, ranked 16th in the world, downed Blake 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
US Captain Patrick McEnroe said that he was pleased with Roddick's performance under pressure.
"It was good enough for today, and I'm confident when Andy plays Wawrinka on Sunday.
"We're always confident when we play at home. James didn't play his best but he hung in and tried to get to a fifth set."
Roddick was focused on his next objective: "We have one point, now we need to get to three on Sunday. The crowd really helped me through the third set."
Wawrinka, who won Olympic doubles gold in Beijing with Federer - missing from the team as he cures a back problem - humbled Blake in exactly three hours.
"I feel bad about letting the team down," said the American. "But the team has picked me up many times before. After I beat myself up for a few more hours, I'll be ready to play on Sunday.
"He served a lot better after the first set. And my serve got more erratic. I didn't put enough pressure on him, I was much too tentative."
Wawrinka now boasts an impressive 3-0 record over Blake, whose fragile confidence over the past six months made him a prime upset candidate.
"I served very well," said Wawrinka, who fired 20 aces and 57 winners as he rallied from a first-set deficit. "It was a tough first match for us. I'm really glad to win this one."
Wawrinka bounced back quickly after dropping the first set as Blake looked to be setting up a quick afternoon of work in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,000.
But Wawrinka had other plans as he preyed on the American, who was returning to Davis Cup action after withdrawing from the semi-final squad last September against Spain citing mental and physical fatigue.
The weakness for the 29-year-old has continued into 2009, with a modest San Jose semi-final his lone result of note this season.
Blake fell behind an early break in the second set as Wawrinka leveled the match at a set apiece.
The quietly confident Swiss continued to rachet up the pressure as Blake went down with a final error count of 61 for his 10th Davis Cup defeat, his first loss in the competition since 2007.
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