Andy Roddick Wins 30th ATP Title Over Milos Raonic

Lauren LynchFeb 22, 2011

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In a meeting of massive serves and heavy hitters, American Andy Roddick held off the new kid on the block—barely—to take the title at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.

The eighth-ranked Roddick held off 20-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic, 7-6(7), 6-7(11), 7-5 in a match which featured 52 aces and saw both men over the 80 percent mark in first-serve points won.

Despite being aced 32 times by the 6'5" Raonic, Roddick emerged with the victory thanks to near-flawless play in the third set, where he hit 18 of 20 first serves for winners and held on four of five break points.

He was at his best with a highlight-reel match point shot—in which he flat-out dove for a forehand that he admitted in the post-match interview that he had "no idea" how he hit.

In watching the replay, it wasn't that Raonic couldn't have reached the last point, but more that the kid simply couldn't believe Roddick had made the shot. Meanwhile, sprawled on the ground, Roddick—who hadn't seen where the shot went after he hit the ground diving for it—looked around with the same wide-eyed wonder he once did upon winning the 2003 US Open.

Roddick said, “I played a pretty good point before that. Just making the return, you get disheartened when he doesn’t miss the next ball because it’s tough to get a serve back. He had a great volley there. I don’t really remember much else besides the fact that I went for the ball, I hit it, I didn’t really think much of it. Then I heard people cheering. I was like, ‘No, there’s no way that went in.’ I guess it did.”

The title is the 30th of Roddick's career, coming in his 50th final appearance. He previously won Memphis in 2009 and 2002. He is now 12-2 on the year.

The loss broke a nine-match win streak for Raonic, who is still 12-3 on the season. Racking up $122,000, Raonic made almost as much in the last week as he had in his pro career proceeding 2011 ($123,203).

The native of Serbia-Montenegro is up to $314,967 in earnings for the year, not bad work for someone who won't be old enough to drink in Memphis for another 10 months.

Finishing second also gives Raonic a 300-point boost in the rankings, which should send him from 59th to 37th in Monday's newest ATP rankings.