Roddick Clocks Swedes With a 152-MPH Serve

Leave ‘em blinking! And groggy.

That was Andy Roddick’s way in his return to the ‘hood, finishing off Sweden and elevating his side, the U.S. team, to the fortunate four in the yearlong chase for the Davis Cup title with a 4-1 quarterfinal victory Sunday.

It was local boy, playing 10 minutes from his childhood home in Boca Raton, making everybody on hand at the Delray Beach Tennis Center feel good -- except, of course, the visiting Swedes. And even they had admiring words for the way he conducted himself in a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-0 victory over the game but overpowered Jonas Bjorkman.

What a final impression Roddick made. On the very last point, saying he thought he’d “crank it up and go for it,” the “Meteor Man” blazed one across the green hardcourt that was merely the fastest serve ever struck -- 152 mph. The sellout assemblage of 6,054 blinked and roared as the speed flashed on the scoreboard. Not Bjorkman, though. He somehow kept his eye on the yellow flash and knocked it back at Roddick, losing the point and the match four strokes later.

“It wasn’t so hard,” Bjorkman laughed, pleased not to have been aced for a 12th time. “You just had to put the racket there.”

Mardy Fish of the U.S. followed with a victory over Thomas Johansson, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, in the superfluous fifth match to put the finishing touch on the U.S. team victory. It was an anticlimax after Roddick had provided the clincher for the fourth time in his career (the others at India, 2001; Spain, 2002; and Slovakia, 2003).

In the final game of his match, Roddick first tied the speed record with a 150-mph blast, which equaled the mark he set in February at a first-round U.S. Davis Cup victory over Austria. That set up the 152.

Bjorkman, gritty and smart, stayed with Roddick for a while, attacking shrewdly and volleying sharply. Breaking Roddick with a tremendous forehand return to 4-3, the Swede served to 30-0. Roddick countered with a four-point rush -- “All of a sudden his momentum was back,” sighed Bjorkman. Another four-point surge in the tiebreaker, giving Roddick a 5-1 lead, came courtesy of the U.S. player zipping forehand passing shots for the two mini-breaks.

With one set banked, Roddick flew confidently, never losing his serve again.

The Swedes had done their hosts a huge favor by knocking off the 2003 Cup winner, Australia, in the first round.

“This was amazing,” Roddick said. “Before they beat the Aussies, I was planning to get on a plane to Australia last Monday in Miami, arriving in Sydney Wednesday and playing [Lleyton] Hewitt on Friday. Ten minutes from home is a better alternative.”

A second favor was granted by Belarus, beating injury-plagued Argentina, 5-0, Sunday to become the next U.S. adversary in September. Carson, Calif., is a possible site, but it will probably be staged at Flushing Meadow two weeks after the U.S. Open. That means the Americans won’t have to contend with the Argentines on turgid Buenos Aires clay.

One more great break -- France beating Spain in the other semifinal -- seems unlikely.

A Spain-U.S. final Dec. 3-5 on Catalan dirt appears to be in the cards.

Fourteen service winners accompanied Roddick’s 11 aces Sunday. “Andy played great,” said Bjorkman, the Swedes’ triple threat, playing singles and doubles.

“He was gutsy,” admired Mats Wilander, Sweden’s captain.

“I felt great in the third set,” Roddick said. “I wasn’t thinking, my instincts took over. It felt amazing. That’s as clean as I’ve felt on a tennis court in a long time -- maybe ever. It’s only a handful of times you feel like whatever shot you’re trying is working.”