Roddick wins 26th career singles title at China Open

American Andy Roddick (pictured) ended Israeli Dudi Sela’s magical tournament run on Sunday at the China Open in Beijing, by winning a hard fought three set match, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3, to capture his 26th career ATP singles title. In a moment of true class and sportsmanship, the former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion kindly donated $25,000 of his winners check to the Chinese Tennis Association to support those who suffered in the catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan Province.

"I would really like to contribute a part of my prize money to those families affected, to those who lost everything they had, suffered painful injuries or lost loved ones in the earthquake," said Roddick. "It’s my great honor to be in Beijing to work with CTA to assist those kids who are in need. It is an athlete's privilege and responsibility to give back."

Roddick, a singles titlist earlier in the year in Dubai and San Jose, smashed 17 aces in the roughly two-hour battle. Roddick’s ace total this week ended at 73. Down a set and 6-4 in the second set tiebreak, the Tel Aviv resident stayed focused and steady from the baseline despite the deficit, as he would go on to win the next four points and send the match to a final set. Roddick quickly got back on track and was able to cruise to victory, as he brings his career title record to 26-14. Today’s title marks Roddick’s 11th career hard court title, while he improves to 9-0 lifetime in finals against first time finalist.

The 23-year-old Israeli fell to 15-21 on the season, despite a dream week in Beijing, where he defeated highly ranked Spanish stars David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo in the early rounds and then followed it up by easily upsetting former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler in the semifinals.

"Overall I feel very good," said the No. 92 ranked Sela. "I played a good match and I had some chances but I hope next time I’m going to do better. It gives me a lot of confidence. I showed myself that I can play with the big players and hopefully I’ll continue like that and improve my game a little bit and improve my ranking of course."

With Sela finishing as runner-up, he became the first Israel citizen to reach an ATP level final since Harel Levy did it in 2001 at the Nottingham event. Sela will surely crack into the Top 75 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings that will be released on Monday. Sela earned $46,400 as the finalist, which is his biggest paycheck he has earned so far in his young career.