By Ken Peters The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO – With a chance to send the United States to the Davis Cup quarterfinals, Andy Roddick wanted to pace himself and make sure he finished the job.
After growing nauseated and losing his opening match two days earlier, Roddick had a methodical, straight-set win over Romania’s Razvan Sabau on yesterday to move the Americans into the next round against Chile.
“I was just trying to maintain energy and keep on an even keel out there today,” Roddick said after his 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win.
Following Roddick’s loss to Andrei Pavel in the best-of-five opener, U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe pointed out how fired-up Roddick gets for Davis Cup matches and said he hoped to help him remain calm for his second match.
“I just wanted him to relax, not get too hyped-up,” McEnroe explained after Roddick’s win over Sabau.
The 23-year-old Roddick said he’s constantly learning and wasn’t sure whether the “calm” approach would work every time.
“Even the calmest guys, you see Pete (Sampras) get fired-up sometimes,” he said. “But I think it’s something that can definitely be learned, and especially in Davis Cup matches when tensions are high, kind of learn just to take it down a little bit.
“Maybe today was the start of it, who knows?”
His victory gave the Americans an insurmountable 3-1 lead, then James Blake made the final 4-1 with his closing singles victory.
