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Andy Roddick continued his march towards the second week of Australian Open 2010 on Friday, edging out Feliciano Lopez in a tight four-set match at Rod Laver Arena to progress 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 7-6(3).

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Heading into the contest, Roddick was yet to drop a set or face any stern competition in his opening two rounds. In fact, the biggest story surrounding the No.7 seed was his match point blow-up against Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci, where a disputed line call led to an expletive-ridden tirade against the chair umpire before sealing the win shortly after.

This match saw Roddick in a calmer zone, and he was certainly made to work to get past the experienced Lopez. While ‘A-Rod’ began the match in trademark style – a 214km/h bomb down the middle – it was the Spaniard who took much of the early initiative.

Seeing Roddick out-served is something of a rarity, yet the big left-hander crunched an impressive 14 aces in the first set to the American’s five. By the end of the match, the two had drawn level with 29 aces each.

Lopez’s strong volleying and backhand enabled him to stay level with Roddick, and then to break and serve for the set at 5-4. He tightened considerably though, missing three comfortable forehands to allow Roddick to break back and eventually send the set to a tie-breaker. Lopez then re-grouped, taking the set with a crosscourt backhand and a roar to stun his more fancied opponent.

In five previous meetings, Roddick had conceded only one set to the world No. 46 Lopez, who has two quarter-final appearances at Wimbledon to his name. Spurred into action, Roddick began to approach the net more often in the second set, displaying the more rounded game that almost won him a Wimbledon title last year. A small pocket of American supporters began to lift as well, and the fifth game saw Roddick break Lopez before finishing the set comfortably.

Lopez’s errors began to hurt, handing the decisive break to Roddick when he netted a simple smash. The 188cm Spaniard had problems underneath high lobs on a number of occasions, sending one well wide and others into the net. A four-time semi-finalist here, Roddick was able to capitalise and take the set 6-4.

Roddick soon found an ominous rhythm, holding easily and pushing Lopez’s serve each game. But Lopez refused to lie down, scrapping his way to another tie-breaker. On this occasion, Roddick blitzed past Lopez, opening with a searing backhand pass and racing to a 4-0 lead.

In a repeat of Wednesday’s drama, Roddick again had animated discussions with the chair umpire after failing to convert a match point. Roddick framed a smash that floated to Lopez, who leaned across to drop a winner that travelled almost parallel to the net. Roddick seemed to check the replay – his undoing on Wednesday, when video evidence led to a sheepish apology – before questioning the legality of Lopez’s shot. The point stood, but this time Roddick moved on and completed the three-hour and 32-minute win shortly after.

It’s now been more than six years since now Texas-based Roddick won his only major, the 2003 US Open, but says he remains focuses on each match rather than the prospect of not winning another.
“How we negotiate this tournament has nothing to do with two or three years from now. That's honestly the way I think,” he said.

“I'm going to try everything. I'm going to put in the hard yards before I get to a tournament. But once you're there, you're just trying to get through some days.”

Roddick’s win sets up a tantalising match-up against 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzalez, the 11th seed who was pushed to five sets by Evgeny Korolev on Friday. Roddick is well aware of the dangers of the Chilean with a lethal forehand.

“Some days he comes out, looks like he's playing ping pong the way he can sling the ball around,” he said of Gonzalez.

“I think I'm going to have to keep serving the way that I have been, kind of try to control the pace of the match with my first serve. We'll see.”