Roddick rallies past Kudla at San Jose

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Andy Roddick ran to his right along the baseline and crumbled to the floor, pulling his hands over his hat and letting out a painful roar that echoed around the arena.

"I thought that was it," opponent Denis Kudla said.

So did everyone else.

Roddick regrouped from the fresh right ankle injury and an already troublesome right hamstring Wednesday night, rallying past the Ukrainian-born Kudla 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round of the SAP Open.

Almost a month since he retired in the second round of the Australian Open with a slight tear in his hamstring, Roddick injured his ankle late in the second set. He returned with a brace around his hamstring, won a second-set tiebreaker after Kudla double-faulted and came back from 2-0 down in the final set for a victory even he's not quite sure how he earned.

"The best thing I did was just exist out there," Roddick said.

Roddick's return to the court had more drama than he could've imagined.

The bold and brash American complained of the flashing video board that hangs from the arena's rafters, stopped play more than once while flashbulbs on fans' cameras or phones popped, squeaked his shoes between points on the indoor surface and had his share of words with line judges — even shaking his head and walking around the court when a video replay didn't go his way — in the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks.

All those worries faded late in the second set.

Running to his right along the baseline to chase down a ball while up 5-4, Roddick pulled up limp. He dropped to the ground and the arena fell silent for several seconds until his agonizing grunts.

"The look on his face looked like it hurt a lot," Kudla said.

Roddick, who had a first-round bye, partially tore a tendon in his hamstring against Lleyton Hewitt on Jan. 19. He was injured in the second set against Hewitt, played 16 more games before retiring and has only practiced sparingly since.

"When you first go down, you don't know how it's going to feel until you take those first couple steps," Roddick said. "Unfortunately, it's become all too familiar recently. I didn't want to stop. I'm really sick of doing that."

After a brief medical timeout, Roddick lost the game on Kudla's serve but rallied in impressive fashion.