Roddick tops Querrey at Legg Mason

Washington:

Andy Roddick won the 500th match of his professional career with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Sam Querrey in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Thursday.

Roddick becomes the 36th player and the fourth active one to reach the milestone, joining Roger Federer, Carlos Moya and Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who fell to No. 2 seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) .

No. 10 seed Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 2-6, 6-1. Fifth-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden also needed three sets, but ousted Frenchman Marc Gicquel 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Fourth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 win over American Wayne Odesnik. No. 11 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia defeated Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-1 in his third-round match and will face Roddick in the quarterfinals.

The matchup of the big serving Americans Roddick is second on the ATP Tour in aces, one spot ahead of Querrey - did not materialize with most of the key points turning into longer rallies. Roddick had three aces, six double faults and lost his serve two times, but won three break points and put in a high percentage of first serves and groundstrokes to keep the pressure on Querrey, who had reached the finals in three straight tournaments and won the hardcourt event in Los Angeles last week.

"I served badly tonight. It's almost gratifying because it's a match I wouldn't have won before," said Roddick, who said the humid conditions also contributed to both players having off nights.

"He had the same deal. You won't see us break each other that many times very often."

Roddick's struggle with his serve started early, dropping his first game at love with two double faults, but he countered by breaking Querrey on his opening service game. Another break of Roddick's serve put Querrey up 3-2, but Roddick evened the match at 4-all with a break.

"I've been able to get over stuff a little bit faster on court and then in the middle of the match, stay the course," Roddick said. "When I broke back the second time, I said this is my set to win now and it worked out that way."

Tied at 3-3 in the tiebreak, Roddick won three straight points to take control, then broke Querrey to go up 2-1 in the second set.

In his first tournament since losing in the Wimbledon final to Federer, Roddick said that entering the match against one of the hottest players on tour was going to be a measuring stick of his own game.

Del Potro, who called Hewitt "one of my idols" dropped the first set for the second straight match before rallying in the second and then was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third. The 2008 Legg Mason champion del Potro lost the game at love and then both players held their final service game, setting up the tiebreaker. Tied at two, del Potro earned a mini-break with a backhand winner down the line that started a run of five consecutive points to close out the win for del Potro.

"Today we had a great match," said del Potro, who will take on Soderling in the quarterfinals. "I had good shots and good serves and that was the game. ... The key was in the tiebreak."

After having his serve broken twice en route to losing the second set, Haas jumped on top of Ferrero quickly in the third, winning the opening five games. Haas, a semifinalist at Wimbledon this year and in this event in 2008, lost four points on his serve in the final set and had 19 aces in the match.

"When you're down two breaks to a top player like that, it's hard to keep focused, so at some point, you just start thinking about the third set," said Haas, who will face Gonzalez in the quarterfinals. "I played a solid third set, so I am really happy with the win."

Down a break and set point at 4-5 in the first set, Haas rallied to win the final three games, breaking Ferrero's serve twice. With Ferrero serving at 30-all in the final game, Haas closed the first set with a stellar running backhand down the line followed by a crosscourt forehand winner on set point.

No. 8 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic won his third-round match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 over German Philipp Petzschner. In the quarterfinals, he will face American John Isner, who defeated France's Sebastien De Chaunac 6-2, 6-4.

Soderling broke Gicquel's serve at 4-3 in the third set and finished off the match with an ace, his 15th on the night.