Roddick powers into last eight
 |
Roddick has not dropped a set in his first four matches.
Story Tools
|
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- Andy Roddick lived up to his top seeding when he brutally dismissed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 6-1 6-2 6-3 on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The world number one made it look as easy as 1-2-3 and needed only 79 minutes on Rod Laver Arena centre court to blast past 16th seed Schalken and into the last eight.
He now faces the equally powerful Russian Marat Safin in what should be a memorable quarter-final.
"I think we have pretty similar games in that we both have big serves but we're not serve and volleyers," Roddick said of his quarter-final with Safin.
Roddick, 21, has not dropped a set in his first four matches and appears on course for a mighty semi-final showdown against defending champion Andre Agassi.
Roddick described his performance against Schalken as his best of the tournament and there was little reason to doubt the U.S. Open champion's assessment.
"I think so, from the back of the court definitely," the right-hander from Nebraska said.
"I was doing what I wanted with the ball, so I was pleased."
FEW ANSWERS
Schalken in contrast had few answers against the power and precision of Roddick, who now holds an imposing 9-2 career record over the Dutchman.
"He's played better against me before but I put him under pressure from the first ball, so maybe that had something to do with it," Roddick said.
"He started hitting the ball a lot better and put me under pressure in the third but it was a little late then," he said.
Roddick's serve was a powerful weapon against Schalken and was regularly above the 200 kmh mark, enabling him to win an impressive 89 percent of points on his first serve.
He also hammered 14 aces past the Dutchman and whipped a forehand cross court winner past him on the final point to close the match out in emphatic fashion.
Roddick said he believed the most improved facet of his game was his service return.
"I think I'm returning a lot better, making people work a lot harder on their service games," Roddick said.
"I think I've been winning more than I've been losing the last couple of matches, which has been nice," he said.
Roddick said there were no clear favourites to win the year's first grand slam title, with Agassi still to be overcome and high quality players such as Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and local hopes Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis still around.
"Take your pick, there's a lot of guys left in the draw," Roddick said.
"I think it's still Andre's title until someone takes it away from him," he said.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
