Roddick out as top seeds progress

American Andy Roddick has been knocked out of the Australian Open by rising Cypriot star Marcos Baghdatis, while seeded players David Nalbandian, Nadia Petrova, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Lindsay Davenport all advanced to the quarter-finals during the afternoon session on day seven of the tournament.

Baghdatis, ranked No.54 in the world, defeated the second seed 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes on Rod Laver Arena, which came alive with the overwhelming support of the vocal Greek Cypriot fans.

Roddick had his serve broken in the seventh game of the first set and again in the third and fourth sets, after having only been broken once in the first three rounds of the Open.

Baghdatis managed to hold onto the first set before it seemed Roddick would be too powerful when he broke serve twice and claimed the second set easily.

The young Cypriot managed to reply with a foray of winners (63-39) to cause a massive upset and take out the fourth round match up.

Baghdatis will now face the winner of the Ivan Ljubicic and Thomas Johansson clash, which will be played tonight at Rod Laver Arena.

Play was interrupted throughout the day on outside courts as temperatures soared to 42 degrees Celsius, meaning the Extreme Heat Policy was put in place for the third consecutive day at Melbourne Park.

Earlier, fourth seed Nalbandian made it thought to the quarter-finals for the fourth time in as many years as he defeated Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-0 2-6 6-2 on Vodafone Arena.

The Argentinean took two hours and seven minutes to overcome the 16th seed and will face Frenchman Fabrice Santoro on Tuesday.

Nalbandian got off to a dominant start, breaking Robredo in the third game of the opening set and again in the ninth to secure the early lead, which was followed by three breaks of serve in the second set.

Robredo fought back with two breaks of his own to seal the third set but couldn’t restrict the Argentine who broke back early in the fourth and sealed the victory on his fourth match point.

Unseeded Santoro caused a further upset as he overcame 11th seed David Ferrer 6-4 7-5 7-5 on Vodafone Arena to book himself a place in his first grand slam quarter-final.

33-year-old Santoro has not made the final eight of a grand slam in his 18 years on the ATP tour and is now the oldest remaining player left in the tournament.

Three of the top female chances all progressed in straight sets with Petrova defeating Elena Vesnina, Henin-Hardenne beating Virginia Ruano Pascual and Davenport overcoming Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sixth seed Petrova dispatched of her fellow Russian compatriot 6-3 6-1 in 62 minutes to reach the final eight, her best result in seven Australian Open tournaments, which she will be hoping to better against either Maria Sharapova or Daniela Hantuchova in the quarter final.

19-year-old Vesnina was her own worst enemy with 35 unforced errors compared to just 13 for Petrova, who is in impressive grand slam form after finishing in the semi finals at the French Open and in the quarters at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2005.

2004 Australian Open champion Henin-Hardenne recorded a convincing 6-0 6-3 win over unseeded Ruano Pascual on Vodafone Arena.

Henin-Hardenne broke serve in the first game and went on to take the set in just 26 minutes, while the Spaniard offered resistance in the second, it wasn’t enough to stop the eighth seed from booking a showdown with top seed Davenport who defeated the 14th seed 6-2 6-4.

Kuznetsova was no match for last year’s runner up, who breezed through the match in 69 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Davenport was restricted in the second set as she received treatment on an injured foot, giving the Russian a chance to bring the scores to 3-4, but it wasn’t enough to keep the American down as she claimed the final three games.

Australia’s last hope in the women’s draw Samantha Stosur, who faces Martina Hingis tomorrow night, was also on Rod Laver Arena today with doubles partner Lisa Raymond as they defeated Chinese pair Ting Li and Tiantian Sun 6-3 6-4.

The top seeds now advance to the fourth round where they will face either tenth seeds Gisela Dulko and Maria Kirilenko or sixth seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama.

Australian Jordan Kerr joined in on the action on Rod Laver Arena today as he and doubles partner Travis Parrott went down to top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-2 7-5.

The American twins dominated the No.14 seeds as they advanced to the fourth round in an attempt to win their first Australian Open title after finishing runners up in the previous two years.

Tonight’s action at Rod Laver Arena sees fourth seed Maria Sharapova take on 17th seed Daniela Hantuchova and seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic facing tenth seed Thomas Johansson for a place in the quarter finals with a full report to follow here at Sports Australia.

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