Roddick beats Melzer in straight sets, advances in Japan
TOKYO -- Andy Roddick and David Ferrer advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Thursday.
Top-seeded Ferrer recovered from a slow start to defeat wild card Takao Suzuki 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, while second-seeded Roddick beat Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Ferrer will meet fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, who defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-1, 6-3.
The draw opened up for Roddick when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired against Viktor Troicki with an abdominal strain while leading 7-5, 1-2.
Roddick, coming off a victory at the China Open on Sunday, needed three tiebreakers to defeat Ivo Minar in his opening match on Wednesday.
His match against Melzer went much faster.
After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Roddick broke Melzer to go up 2-1 in the second set. His return appeared to be long and Melzer received a code violation for an audible obscenity after protesting.
"I played OK," Roddick said. "Jurgen had a few calls go against him in the second set which is unfortunate, but I'm glad I didn't have to spend too much time on the court."
Ferrer broke Suzuki to go up 3-1 in the second set.
"It was a tough match, Takao surprised me," Ferrer said. "He was very focused. But when I broke him in the second set I got more focused, then the third set was easier for me."
Ferrer coasted through the final set and won with an ace.
Ferrer, No. 5 in the rankings, is coming off an opening-round exit in Beijing last week.
In other matches, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic defeated Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-2 . He'll face No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who defeated American Amer Delic 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Frenchman Richard Gasquet and German veteran Rainer Schuettler will meet in the other quarterfinal. The fourth-seeded Gasquet crushed Japanese Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-2, while Schuettler lost a second-set tiebreaker before recovering to defeat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-7 (12), 6-4.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
