Distraught Roddick admits he ‘choked’ in Tipsarevic duel

ANDY RODDICK admitted he had “choked it” after being knocked out of Wimbledon yesterday.

The sixth-seeded American dominated on his own serve, but wasted eight break points and hit some almost comical returns as he fell to a 6-7 (5/7) 7-5 6-4 7-6 (7/4) loss against Janko Tipsarevic.

The Serbian had only two break points throughout the entire match, but took them both to set up the win in just over three hours on Centre Court.

And Roddick admitted afterwards he had no-one to blame but himself for his early exit.

“I’m pretty distraught,” said the American.

“Any chance I got I pretty much just choked it. That’s tough to deal with.

“The guy (Tipsarevic) hit average serves in the middle of the box at about 90 miles an hour. There’s no excuse. I consider myself a top player and you should make those in your sleep.

“I not only didn’t make them, there was nothing even positive in the misses. I just didn’t make anything happen out there tonight. Zero, zero, zero.

“I played just horrific shots on break points while he was 100% on break points. I put myself in a position to win that match in straight sets, I served huge.

“But it was just the moments I blinked, there’s not way of getting round that.”

His opponent Tipsarevic was on cloud nine after the victory, and pointed to Roddick’s mistakes as the decisive factor in the match.

“I’ve just looked at the statistics and it’s simple. Today I won because I used my chances and he didn’t,” said the Serbian.

“Apart from his great serving, one of his biggest strengths in my opinion is that he does not make a lot of unforced errors or mistakes from the baseline.

“But he had a lot of break points throughout the match but didn’t use them. The good thing is he didn’t make me play, he had lots of unforced errors.

“I knew before the match I would have to play a lot of shots from the baseline, but today I could see he was tight and that’s one of the reasons why I made him play. I’m proud of myself because I saw this by myself. If you can read your opponent then it’s a big bonus.”

Elsewhere second seed Rafael Nadal was given a thorough workout by Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis before emerging a 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7/2) 6-3 winner to set up a meeting with Nicolas Kiefer.

“I’m very happy with my win. I know I had a very tough opponent,” said Nadal.

Scotland’s Andy Murray dispatched Xavier Malisse 6-4 6-2 6-2 in just one hour and 33 minutes while Germany’s Tommy Haas set up a third-round clash with Murray after dispatching Tommy Robredo 6-4 6-4 6-3.

Richard Gasquet’s all-French showdown with Sebastien Grosjean ended prematurely with the eighth seed 6-2 6-2 ahead. Grosjean was forced to retire in the third set with a thigh injury.

Czech 16th seed Radek Stepanek was taken to five sets by Viktor Troicki but rallied to win 6-7 6-7 6-3 6-1 6-2.