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Roddick’s Aces Keep U.S. in the Top Deck

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From Times Wire Reports

While Croatia and Slovakia became first-time finalists in the Davis Cup in other cities Sunday, Andy Roddick helped the U.S. ensure that it would remain in the World Group competition with a 4-1 victory over host Belgium in a best-of-five competition at Leuven.

A loss would have relegated the Americans to Davis Cup zonal competition for the first time in 17 years.

Playing in the first U.S. match of the day, Roddick benefited from 35 aces and a disputed call that went his way in the fifth set as he defeated Olivier Rochus of Belgium, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, in 4 1/2 hours.

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“Luckily, I had some great serves when I needed to,” said Roddick, who had five aces in the third-set tiebreaker.

“That was key,” he said.

In the last match, James Blake beat Belgium’s Steve Darcis, 7-5, 6-1.

Roddick’s victory was his second against Belgium. The American struggled with cramps throughout the last hour of his match Sunday, but his power on the red clay negated Rochus’ running and shotmaking. The 31st-ranked Rochus was playing his third match in three days.

The big turn for the U.S. came in the fifth set when Rochus missed the easiest of volleys to give Roddick a 4-2 lead. Officials could not find the impact mark and went with the controversial line call. With fans jeering every U.S. point after the pivotal line call, the Americans left the court without celebrating before the crowd of 3,500.

“It would have been unprofessional,” Roddick said. “You don’t want that quality of a match to end like that. You would not want to rub it in people’s faces.”

Slovakia 4, Argentina 1 -- Dominik Hrbaty stopped Guillermo Coria, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3, to clinch host Slovakia’s victory in the day’s first match at Bratislava.

“I’ll always remember the atmosphere,” Hrbaty said. “All the people were cheering for me, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.”

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Croatia 3, Russia 2 -- In the day’s opening match, host Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic defeated Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-4, for the clinching victory at Split.

“I always thought my Olympic bronze medal was the highlight of my career, but this is better,” said Ljubicic, who also led Croatia’s upset of the U.S. in March. “It is such a hard path to get this far, to get this high, to get a chance to win the Davis Cup.”

The final will begin Dec. 2 at Slovakia. Croatia began playing Davis Cup in 1993, and Slovakia entered a year later after the breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

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