Andy Roddick dropped to 0-2 at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday after a racket-busting 7-5, 6-3 loss to Tomas Berdych in the season-ending tournament.
Roddick was annoyed by the advertising lights at the feet of the line judges in the second set. The lights occasionally flashed red while play was going on. Shortly after complaining, Roddick was broken for the second time, giving Berdych a 3-2 lead.
Andy Roddick complained of advertising lights at the feet of the line judges in the second set of Wednesday's match. They were later turned off.
An angry Roddick sent a ball high into the rafters, then smashed his racket on his foot, drawing a code violation from the chair umpire. Berdych held serve twice after the outburst and then broke Roddick again in the final game.
"The neons in the back weren't quite to the settled position. They were still advertising fun stuff," Roddick said. "When you're trying to track a ball, it's kind of neon lights and stuff. Then Tomas noticed it. A couple of them just went out before we played a point."
The match finished with the lights off.
Berdych converted his first break point in the 11th game of the first set, minutes after saving two set points from Roddick.
"I just went there, serve twice pretty good, turn the game," Berdych said.
Berdych, a Czech ranked No. 6, beat the No. 8-ranked Roddick for the first time in four matches this year. Berdych is making his debut at the ATP finals and is 1-1 at the round-robin event for the world's top eight players.
"There's still a chance," Berdych said. " Now it's down to myself and my next opponent."
He lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets in his first match and next faces top-ranked Rafael Nadal. Berdych was beaten by Nadal in this year's Wimbledon final.
"Playing Rafa, it's always great experience," Berdych said. "Even if you play on clay, grass, indoor, outdoor, whatever."
Later, Nadal was to play Djokovic in the other Group A match. Both won opening matches. Djokovic will become the first player to qualify for the semifinals if he wins.
On Tuesday, Roger Federer stretched his record to 2-0 by beating Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2 in Group B, and Robin Soderling defeated David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5. All four can still advance after Thursday's final round-robin matches.
In doubles, Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Oliver Marach of Austria 6-1, 6-3. In the late match, Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Max Mirnyi of Belarus were to play Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
Courtesy: ESPN
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