Roddick rocked

Germany's Tommy Haas captured his first ATP title since 2001, defeating American top seed Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-4 here Sunday to win the 400,000-dollar United States Clay Court Championship.

Haas, who missed all of last year following right rotator cuff surgery in December of 2002, won 52,000 dollars and his first ATP title since Stuttgart in 2001. It was his sixth ATP title and his first on clay.

"I was pretty close (at the Stuttgart Outdoors) a few years ago, just two points away, so it means a lot to have my first clay court title but even more because of what I've been through," he said.

"I am glad to win my first title since coming back," he said.

"I didn't expect it to happen this fast."

The 26-year-old German, who had not reached an ATP final since Rome two years ago, rose to 4-0 overall against Roddick, snapping the American's 12-match winning streak.

They had not played since Haas beat him in Rome in 2002 - all of Haas' victories over Roddick coming before the German's health problems and before the American's emergence as one of the top players in tennis.

"Overall, the shoulder feels pretty good," Haas said.

"A match like this and a win like this over Andy does a lot for your confidence. He's a tremendous player and it's always nice to beat a guy like him. I think my game suits playing against him well. We'll have to see when we play in the future on a different surface to see how we match up."

Reigning US Open champion Roddick had won 18 of his prior 19 matches here, capturing titles in 2001 and 2002 and losing last year's final to compatriot Andre Agassi.