Roddick Moves on to Memphis Quarterfinals

All he needed was 61 minutes. It didn’t take long for World’s No. 6 Andy Roddick to clinch victory at the Memphis Championships, defeating fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-3. The victory earned Roddick the coveted slot for the Thursday quarterfinals of the.

Roddick showed power and force early on, drilling 11 aces and hitting 79 percent of his first serves. He said, “I’m in a pretty good groove serving right now, and feel like a lot of the work I put in during December is showing itself.”

The quarterfinals will pit Roddick against another American, Sam Querrey, who in turn defeated Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis, 6-3, 6-4. Del Potro will face Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

Meanwhile, the quarterfinals will also consist of two men’s all-unseeded events, with former World’s No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt versus Belgium’s Christophe Rochus and Israel’s Dudi Sela against Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

Hewitt is a tennis force to watch in the event, as he already crushed two tennis stars this week, James Blake and Pete Sampras in Monday’s exhibition games. Hewitt is back after a recent hip surgery. “I’m feeling pretty good about the way things are going. Jim and I did a lot moving in that three-set match and I was happy with the result,” he said.