During his impressive third-round win over John Isner, Andy Roddick was sharp, composed and steady. He was none of those today against Richard Gasquet, who eliminated the No. 8 seed from Indian Wells with an equally impressive 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory.
Logic didn't seem to apply to this final day match on Stadium 1. It was hard to believe that Roddick's level of play would dip so drastically from a day earlier, but there Gasquet was, leading 6-3, 2-0 and a point away from a double-break advantage. The Frenchman was simply sharper than Roddick—by a wide margin at this juncture—and he was actually serving better, too. By match's end, Gasquet would out-ace Roddick 8-7 and win 77 percent of his first-serve points, compared to 67 percent of Roddick's. There was no fluke in this score, no pointing to short rest for the American: Gasquet was simply better.
Roddick would stay afloat, however, saving the de facto match point and holding serve. Yet things would actually get worse. In Roddick's next service game, the net sensor sounded on what looked to be a clean ace on game point, leading to a frank discussion with Fergus Murphy. Steaming, Roddick held, but quickly fell behind 0-40 in the next game after a series of wretched returns. Roddick struck his racquet clean, though, rendering it unplayable. When Murphy gave Roddick a warning, Roddick shot right back, saying Murphy should get a warning for his un-overrule on the earlier non-ace. (And, if Murphy should mess up another call, a point penalty.)
It wasn't until the eighth game of the second set that Roddick saw his first break point of the match (shouldn't that be Gasquet's name there?). When Roddick converted on his second break opportunity, it finally appeared that he would ride the momentum from a job well done. But when three break/set points passed him by, we were reminded that all logic was discarded long ago. The return of serve played a massive role in this outcome—Gasquet got good looks and settled into rallies, where he used his backhand to great effect; Roddick simply gave points away, twice on set point with ugly forehand chips.
In the ensuing tiebreak, Roddick had his moment—Gasquet appeared to earn a match point with a well-angled volley, but Roddick reached for it out wide and curved a deep forehand in. But like so many other instances today, Roddick couldn't build on a spurt of success. Rather, it just delayed Gasquet's moment: a flawless backhand up the line on his first match point.
—Ed McGrogan