Wake Forest Athletics
Darcis Stuns Roddick at Winston-Salem Open
8/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 22, 2012
By Currie McFayden, Wake Forest Media Relations (@SIDeacons)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - No. 5 seed Andy Roddick was shocked at the hands of unseeded Steve Darcis on Wednesday afternoon at the 2012 Winston-Salem Open, while top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued rolling through his competition with an easy victory over qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Following is a recap of Wednesday's top events from the Winston-Salem Open.
Center Court Stunner: Darcis Drops Roddick in Straight Sets
Steve Darcis, the unheralded No. 81 player in the world, pulled off arguably the biggest upset in the two-year history of the Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday, downing fan favorite and fifth-seeded Andy Roddick 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3).
Playing in Center Court's second match of the day, the unseeded Belgian went blow-for-blow with the former world No. 1, posting nearly identical stats throughout both sets. Darcis proved his mettle in the two tiebreakers, though, wearing Roddick down with a series of strong forehands. In a surprising stat, Darcis actually out-served the American in the second set, tallying three aces to Roddick's one.
"I didn't expect this at all," Darcis quipped in his post-match comments, "When I came here I wasn't playing so well, but I've played two good opening matches. Today I played good tennis and served well, and I tried to be aggressive when I could. For me it's a great win heading into the U.S. Open."
Following the loss, Roddick is now one of just three top-five seeds to not advance past the third round at the Winston-Salem Open, joining 2011 seeds Jurgen Melzer (No. 2) and Nikolay Davydenko (No. 5). Darcis is set to face second-seeded Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals in a rematch from the Olympics late last month.
Here Comes the Rain Again
With three late-afternoon matches well underway, a few drops of rain began to fall around 4:30 p.m. before turning into a torrential downpour, forcing tournament officials to halt play.
Rain continued to fall for about an hour before tapering off to a drizzle. The grounds crew sprang into action with the all-too-familiar jet dryers for the second time in four days and did an excellent job on getting the courts back into playing shape. In total, the first delay lasted approximately two hours.
Yet another storm struck the area around 8:00 p.m., though, again forcing a stoppage of play. This second delay was shorter, spanning only 45 minutes before play was able to resume on all courts.
Tsonga Blasts Stakhovsky Despite Rain Delay
Not even two hours of rain could cool off No. 1 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's play on Wednesday evening. The Frenchman, currently ranked No. 5 in the world, routed qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 in a match that was not as competitive as the score indicates.
Tsonga and Stakhovsky were knotted at 5-5 in the first set before the initial rain delay brought the match to a halt. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, that was the closest that Tsonga would come to being stopped all night.
Following the delay, the top seed came out firing as the duo entered a first-set tiebreaker. Tsonga brushed aside Stakhovsky's challenges in the decisive breaker, conceding just one out of eight points. He maintained that momentum into the second set as well, winning 20 of his 24 service points as his game caught fire under the lights of Center Court.
Heading into the quarterfinals, Tsonga showed why he is the No. 1 seed on Wednesday night and has been the class of the 2012 edition of the Winston-Salem Open thus far. His next opponent, sixth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain, will have to play at the very top of his ability in order to challenge Tsonga.
Querrey Breezes by Lopez 6-3, 6-4
After facing a rain-delayed first outing on Monday, seventh-seeded Sam Querrey took no chances in Center Court's first match on Wednesday afternoon, dispatching Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4 in just one hour and five minutes.
Querrey won an astounding 90 percent (26-of-29) of his first-serve points and logged 12 aces, eight of which came in the second set. He dropped serve just once in the match after losing a service game to Lopez early in the first set, but seemed unfazed as he continued to push the No. 9 seed around the court with his powerful game.
"I thought I served really well and I thought it was one of my better returning matches as well. [Lopez] has a tough serve for being left-handed, and I thought my forehand and backhand served me well against his game," the San Francisco, Calif., native said following the match. "Any time that I can do all of that I feel like I'm tough to beat."
The win sets up Querrey's biggest challenge yet, a quarterfinal showdown with No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. Dolgopolov conquered Querrey 6-4, 6-4 in their last meeting at the Citi Open less than three weeks ago.
