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Serena Williams and Andy Roddick, returning from injuries, bounced from Sony

By Michelle Kaufman, McClatchy Newspapers –

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — It was not the script American tennis fans would have written.

Less than 24 hours after Andy Roddick proved he’s still got game with a stunning upset of nemesis Roger Federer, he lost, 7-5, 6-0, to Juan “Pico” Monaco in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Argentine fans in soccer jerseys waved flags and sang “Ole-Ole-Ole!” as dusk set in while Roddick trudged dejectedly into the tunnel.

Later Tuesday night, a frustrated Serena Williams rushed off Stadium Court after being bounced, 6-4, 6-4, by Caroline Wozniacki in a battle of former No. 1s. Williams was aiming to win a record sixth title in Key Biscayne, but the relentless Dane — cheered on by golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy — derailed her.

“There is no script in sports,” Roddick had said after beating Federer. “That’s what makes it the best entertainment in the world.”

Roddick and Williams were both coming off injuries, and their lack of match time seemed to have caught up with them.

“There’s no real way around it, when you have to make a quick recovery, it will expose you if you’re not in shape,” said Roddick, who is getting over a torn hamstring. “Most people can play a match and it’s fine. It’s the recovery where it kind of defines you… . I just didn’t have it physically. I got to 4-all, and I’m out of shape. That’s it.”

Williams said she played “at 20 percent” and blamed her loss on 36 unforced errors and Wozniacki’s elevated game: “Everyone I play always plays the match of the year. It’s no surprise. I think she knew that she had to play really well to hang in there. I didn’t step up to the plate… . I just made a tremendous amount of errors. I’m older, and I shouldn’t do that. There’s no excuse. I just gotta stop that. It’s silly.”

Roddick shot down the suggestion that he might have been emotionally drained after his gutsy three-set win over Federer — only the third time he had beaten him in 24 tries.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m professional enough to take care of that. But you can’t lie to your body.”

Monaco sensed Roddick was physically spent and tried to capitalize. He said his strategy was to run the American from side to side.

“I was exhausted from my match against (Gael) Monfils, but it seemed Roddick was even more tired,” Monaco said. “I wanted to make him move a lot to wear him out, because I knew he has such a dominant serve. When I won the first set, it gave me confidence.”

Monaco, the 21st-ranked Argentine, calls Madrid, Tokyo, Miami and his hometown of Tandil his favorite four cities in the world. He surely will like Miami even more after this week.

Had Roddick won, he would have faced close friend and eighth-ranked Mardy Fish in what he called “a popcorn match” quarterfinal. Fish played his best tennis of the season to get past Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.

Roddick and Fish attended high school together in Boca Raton, and Roddick’s supermodel wife, Brooklyn Decker, was texting Fish from Germany on Monday night asking how to watch the Roddick-Federer match online.

“(Playing Fish) would have been a little bit more intriguing now because the tables have turned a little bit and he’s a top guy and I’m not,” Roddick said.

Fish was also rooting for an All-American quarterfinal. “It would be nice to play a relevant match against each other again.” Instead, he will play Monaco. Fish has been relegated to the Grandstand Court all three matches so far and was looking forward to a Stadium Court showdown with Roddick.

“I certainly want to play on Stadium Court,” Fish said. “But they’ve got to put someone out on the grandstand, and who’s that going to be? Are you going to put Federer out there, or Djokovic, or Nadal or Serena? I’m not going to go ahead of those guys as far as people coming to watch them play. You’ve got to go where you’ve got to go.”

But he’s not complaining. Fish is happy to still be in the hunt for the title.

In other Tuesday matches, top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Richard Gasquet 7-5, 6-3 and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a three-time runner-up here, got past Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic will next play fifth-seeded David Ferrer, who beat 11th-seeded Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.

Nadal was tested by the upstart Japanese player and called for a trainer to wrap his left knee late in the opening set.

“I am not probably in perfect condition (Tuesday) with the left knee,” Nadal said. “But the important thing is to try to win as many matches as possible. For me this is an important tournament, and every victory has very, very big value for me, especially without being perfect.”

Nadal’s next opponent is Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2. Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov. He plays Andy Murray in the quarterfinal. Murray eliminated Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-4.

Maria Sharapova had little trouble with Li Na of China, winning 6-3, 6-0 in just over an hour. She cleaned up her game, had no double faults and only 14 unforced errors compared with 11 double faults and 52 unforced errors in the previous round. Sharapova plays Wozniacki in the semifinal.

“It’s definitely special to win against a great champion like Serena,” Wozniacki said. “I knew I had to close it out because she wasn’t going to give it to me.”

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