Roddick Survives Early Scare to Overcome Ginepri

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Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt both kept their hopes of a record fifth title at The Artois Championships alive after contrasting wins in the second round at The Queen’s Club on Wednesday.

Defending champion Roddick survived an early scare against fellow American Robby Ginepri before booking his place in the third round with a 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1 victory, while Hewitt dropped only five games against Belgian Xavier Malisse.

Roddick, who was playing his first match in just over a month after suffering a shoulder injury in Rome, recovered well after losing the first set against Ginepri, who reached the fourth round at the French Open last week.

“After the first set, I thought it was actually really good,” said Roddick, who has now won 24 of 26 matches at The Queen’s Club since making his debut in 2001. “It was a tale of kind of two matches. Almost the first set I was feeling like I was a little bit behind on everything, a little bit slow, just from not having played. The next two I actually pick it up and played probably better than I thought I could right now, considering.”

The four-time champion suffered his injury during the semifinals of the Masters Series event in Rome last at the beginning of May, retiring against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka after just three games. Having returned to the United States for treatment, Roddick says he is still taking his rehabilitation on a day-by-day basis.

“We'll see how it's pulled up,” added the former World No. 1. “I haven't practiced for more than an hour at a given time. We got through three sets and I was feeling okay and I actually served decent. So hopefully it will pull up okay tomorrow.”

Roddick’s recovery will be a welcome sight for his fans and for his fiancée Brooklyn Decker, here in London with the American this year. “[I’ve been] driving my fiancée crazy. Too many Scrabble games. It was horrible. I'm not really good at sitting around doing nothing. I could be the top five most annoying people ever when they have to sit around and do nothing.”

Hewitt, who along with Roddick has dominated this event since 2000 with four titles of his own, booked his place in the third round against Paul-Henri Mathieu with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Malisse.

Elsewhere on day three, fifth seed and last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist Richard Gasquet claimed only his second win since April with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

The two-time Nottingham Open champion will now meet Mario Ancic for a place in the quarterfinals.