Roddick Sets New Fastest Serve Record

LONDON – Andy Roddick broke his own record for fastest serve with a 153 mph ace Friday during a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Paradorn Srichaphan at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

Roddick served the ace at 1-0, 15-0 in the second set.

“I wasn’t trying to hit it any harder than normal and I didn’t really realize until the crowd started cheering and I saw Paradorn smiling,” Roddick said. “I was surprised because it was against the wind and I didn’t think I had that in me.”

It’s the third time this year Roddick has improved the record. He had a 150 mph serve in a Davis Cup match against Austria in February, and another 152 mph serve in Davis Cup play against Sweden in April.

Roddick, the top-seeded defending champion at Queens, broke the seventh-seeded Paradorn twice in the opening set. After an exchange of breaks early in the second set, Roddick won four of five games to close out a 66-minute victory.

He will face Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. The Australian, a three-time Queen’s champion, won the last four games of each set to defeat Russia’s Igor Andreev 6-3, 7-5.

Hewitt extended his career record at Queen’s to 20-1. His only defeat came against Sebastien Grosjean in the 2003 quarterfinals.

“I felt like I served pretty well,” Hewitt said. “I just played a loose game in the second set, which put me behind and under pressure for the rest of the set, and gave him a bit more confidence as well.

“But I had a lot of opportunities and didn’t believe I was out of the second set at all.”