by Greg Heakes Sat Aug 30, 2:34 AM ET
news.yahoo.com
NEW YORK (AFP) - Andy Roddick and Ernests Gulbis may share the same birthday but only one got to take home the prize early Saturday morning.
Roddick, who turned 26 Saturday, won the battle of the US Open birthday boys, rallying to beat the younger Gulbis 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 in the second-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"He was definitely out-playing me for the first two sets," Roddick said. "I felt like a little kid out here playing against him.
"Then the clock struck 12 and I felt a lot better playing out here as a 26 year old."
The hard-serving Gulbis, who is six years younger, matched Roddick serve-for-serve, hammering 19 aces to Roddick's 21.
But he had nine double faults and made 56 unforced errors to Roddick's 42 unforced errors in the two hour, 52 minute match.
Roddick, whose lone Grand Slam title came at Flushing Meadows in 2003, is hoping that his decision to skip the Beijing Games to get ready for the final Grand Slam of the year will pay dividends.
Asked if he is ready to win another Grand Slam title Roddick said, "I've been off for a while but I'm going to get better with every match I play. If this crowd comes with me, who knows?"
Eighth-seeded Roddick moves through to the third round where he will play unseeded Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Roddick drew huge cheers from the partisan crowd of 20,000 as he started to take control of the match in the third set.
Roddick remains the player with the best chance of keeping the US Open trophy on home soil. He was a runner-up in 2006 and has reached the quarter-finals or better in six of his eight appearances.
Gulbis came out with more spark taking the opening set in just 29 minutes.
"I was proud of the way I played," said Gulbis, who fired 79 winners and won 76 percent of his first serve points.
"It's my first appearance before such a big crowd. It's a really great experience to play on my birthday on this court in a night session against Andy Roddick."
Gulbis reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at this year's French Open before losing to Serbian Novak Djokovic.
The world No. 40 Gulbis is Latvia's lone competitor in the tournament and has twice defeated ninth seed James Blake, Roddick's US Davis Cup teammate, this year.
"He was definitely out-playing me for the first two sets," Roddick said. "I felt like a little kid out here playing against him.
"Then the clock struck 12 and I felt a lot better playing out here as a 26 year old."
The hard-serving Gulbis, who is six years younger, matched Roddick serve-for-serve, hammering 19 aces to Roddick's 21.
But he had nine double faults and made 56 unforced errors to Roddick's 42 unforced errors in the two hour, 52 minute match.
Roddick, whose lone Grand Slam title came at Flushing Meadows in 2003, is hoping that his decision to skip the Beijing Games to get ready for the final Grand Slam of the year will pay dividends.
Asked if he is ready to win another Grand Slam title Roddick said, "I've been off for a while but I'm going to get better with every match I play. If this crowd comes with me, who knows?"
Eighth-seeded Roddick moves through to the third round where he will play unseeded Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Roddick drew huge cheers from the partisan crowd of 20,000 as he started to take control of the match in the third set.
Roddick remains the player with the best chance of keeping the US Open trophy on home soil. He was a runner-up in 2006 and has reached the quarter-finals or better in six of his eight appearances.
Gulbis came out with more spark taking the opening set in just 29 minutes.
"I was proud of the way I played," said Gulbis, who fired 79 winners and won 76 percent of his first serve points.
"It's my first appearance before such a big crowd. It's a really great experience to play on my birthday on this court in a night session against Andy Roddick."
Gulbis reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at this year's French Open before losing to Serbian Novak Djokovic.
The world No. 40 Gulbis is Latvia's lone competitor in the tournament and has twice defeated ninth seed James Blake, Roddick's US Davis Cup teammate, this year.
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