Fifth seed Andy Roddick from the United States had a much easier time in
his second outing of the Masters Cup round robin stage, getting the better of
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in straight sets yesterday.
After consecutive wins over Nikolay Davydenko and Gonzalez, the American has
had his one foot in the semifinals while Gonzalez, compiling a 1-1 record at the
elite year-ending tournament, needs to win the final match against Davydenko to
go automatically into the last four.
Gonzalez should have raised intriguing rivalry against the American number
one as he has just beaten world number one Roger Federer in the first round of
the Red Group on Monday, but the Chilean was never into his game, going down
6-1, 6-4 in only 65 minutes.
Roddick, who had struggled with a heel injury since the disappointing result
at Flushing Meadows, improved his lifetime record against Gonzalez to 7-3.
The 25-year-old American converted on three out of five break points in the
match while the Chilean was never given a chance to break.
