Roddick, Murray in last eight
Published:Friday | June 10, 2011 | 12:00 AM
LONDON (AP):
Andy Roddick became the first player to reach the quarter-finals at Queen's Club yesterday by beating 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-4.
The third-seeded American was later joined by Andy Murray, who beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Roddick is bidding for his fifth title at Queen's Club and had to withstand some early pressure from the South African before pulling through in an hour and 18 minutes.
In a match of big-servers, Anderson claimed two break points in Roddick's opening service game, but the American held before breaking to lead 3-2 and then served out the set.
The second set followed a similar pattern, Roddick fighting off an early break point before moving ahead when Anderson netted a forehand.
"I thought it was solid,'' Roddick said. "I had a game plan, I stuck to it. There was never going to be a lot of breaks out there today with the way we were both serving, but that's grass-court tennis.''
The No. 10-ranked Roddick will next play Fernando Verdasco, who overcame former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian 7-5, 6-1.
Murray survived a strong challenge from Tipsarevic, who won their only previous grass-court match when they played at Queen's Club five years ago.
The 14th-seeded Serb broke in the opening game, but Murray levelled at 3-3 and broke again in the 10th game when his opponent made a forehand error.
Increased pressure
Tipsarevic again broke at the start of the second set, but Murray increased the pressure and after failing to convert two break points at 3-2 he levelled at 4-4 before dominating the tiebreaker.
"I thought it was a high-quality match,'' Murray said. "We both played very well, especially at the end of the second set, a lot of good rallies and long games. It was a really good test.''
Two Frenchmen retired with injuries. Sixth-seeded Gilles Simon quit with back pain when trailing Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-0 in a second-round match that had resumed after being suspended on Wednesday at one set all.