Roddick defeats Lopez to win in Dubai
Saturday, 08 Mar 2008 18:30
Roddick beats Lopez in three sets to win Dubai Championships
American Andy Roddick battled back from a set down to beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (8-10) 6-4 6-2 to win the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Roddick is the first American to win the tournament and goes some way to silence the critics after he split from coach Jimmy Connors just days earlier.
The victory is the 25th title of his career after winning in San Jose last month and was won with the dominance associated with Roger Federer.
The American on his debut in Dubai lost just one set (against Lopez) and did not drop serve all week.
The defeat ended a run of form for the 41st-ranked Spaniard from Madrid who had impressed during the last seven days.
An upset looked to be on the cards when the unseeded Spaniard grabbed the first set tie-break 10-8.
But a double fault in the ninth game of the second set handed the initiative to the world number six and it was one-way traffic from there.
The American improved his ATP finals record to 25-13 in his favour after beating world number two Rafael Nadal and reigning Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic in the previous two rounds.
Lopez will rise to 31 in the world while Roddick remains sixth but the victory will give the American confidence going into next week's Masters Series event in Indian Wells.