Despite bomb threat, Andy Roddick defeats Lleyton Hewitt 7-6, 7-6 at Queen’s Club

Despite bomb threat, Roddick wins at Queen’s

LONDON — After the start of the match was delayed by a bomb threat, Andy Roddick defeated Lleyton Hewitt 7-6, 7-6 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals at Queen’s Club.

Tournament officials, who initially said the match was being delayed because of technical issues, disclosed that a spectator had discovered a bomb threat message pinned to a wall. However, a security sweep found nothing.

While waiting for about 20 minutes, the two former champions chatted at the net.

“Obviously, your concern is making sure everyone is safe,” Roddick said. “There wasn’t really much to be done, and I know they were trying to decide what they were going to do.

“Obviously, we were hoping we were going to get a chance to stay out there and play the match, but that was a first for me.”

After trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker, Roddick closed out the match with his 18th ace to earn a meeting with former finalist Ivo Karlovic. The Croat had 19 aces in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Nicolas Mahut.

James Blake outlasted Sam Querrey 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an all-American match. Andy Murray also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

American Mardy Fish defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4, and Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Xavier Malisse.

Neither Roddick or Hewitt was able to gain an edge, with only one break point in the entire match.

Roddick was taken to deuce twice before holding to lead 4-3. In the second set, the second-seeded American faced a break point as Hewitt led 4-3, but the 15th seed was pressured into hitting a forehand long.

The Australian was taken to deuce for the only time in the match when he double-faulted before holding serve to lead 5-4.

“It was tough out there,” Roddick said. “The wind is blowing pretty good, and it’s gusting. So I don’t know if I ever felt comfortable, but I was able to just focus on holds and played all right in the breakers.”

The sixth-seeded Blake appeared to be on his way to an easy straight-sets victory after breaking to lead the first set 5-4 and building a 3-0 lead in the second.

But Querrey tied it 3-3 and broke again for 5-4 by forcing a backhand error. After Querrey served out the set, one break of serve at 2-1 in the third set was enough to earn Blake the win.

“He actually did a good job of being down and still fighting and battling back,” Blake said. “He really kept his head up and kept working, which is a good sign for a young player.”

The top-seeded Murray needed just one break in each set to secure a comfortable win.

“He started off well and served well, but after I got a break at the end of the first set, I felt more comfort and went for my shots more,” Murray said.