Andy Roddick Blasts Into Quarters

Andy Roddick was back in action yesterday as he saw off the challenge of Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight set to reach the quarter finals of the Brisbane International.

The American is the defending champion and number two seed in Brisbane but it was Dolgopolov who made the quicker start as he forged an early break.

The opening set was a high powered affair with both players hitting great shots and looking in good form as the first of the Grand Slams is only weeks away.

Roddick soon regrouped to get the set back on level terms and as the errors began to creep into his opponents game he too full advantage.

A second break saw Roddick take the opening set and he ran away with the second as he serve and powerful groundstrokes pinned Dolgopolov to the back of the court.

After a rocky start Roddick came through 6-4 6-1 to progress to the quarter finals. Speaking to the AFP after the match he said: "I knew that he was aggressive to the point of psychosis at times.

"In the first six games I didn't really do much wrong, but if you're on court and someone decides they are going to hit a winner whatever ball they get on the very first shot, there's not much you can do.

"My plan was to make him hit those shots for the better part of a couple of hours and it caught up to him a little bit, and when it caught up to him it got away from him pretty quickly."

He will now face Marcos Baghdatis for a place in the semi final as the Cypriot also looked in fine form as he dispatched Lukasz Kubot for the loss of just four games.

Benjamin Becker may have send third seed Fernando Verdasco packing earlier this week but he was unable to repeat that performance in his second match as he fell to Santiago Giraldo 6-3 6-4.

He will now face Kevin Anderson as the South African came through 6-3 6-1 against sixth seed Feliciano Lopez.

Radek Stepanek also looked to be in fine form as he made light work of American Mardy Fish. The gritty Czech saw off his opponent 6-3 6-1 and will now face Florian Mayer in the quarter final.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw