Roddick through to Brisbane quarterfinals

BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Andy Roddick, behind a strong serving game Wednesday, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Australia.

Roddick faced one break point and had nine aces and no double faults in a 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 win over Carsten Ball. Roddick lost 10 points over 11 service games as he was good on 83 percent of his first serves.

He will go against Richard Gasquet in the quarterfinals. Gasquet was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Matthew Ebden on Wednesday.

Defending champion Radek Stepanek, seeded No. 2, needed three sets to get out of the second round, playing 2 hours, 20 minutes before finishing a 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory over Oleksandr Dolgopolov. His quarterfinal opponent will be Wayne Odesnik, who played nearly as long in beating Alejandro Falla 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-1.

Also Wednesday, No. 3-seeded Gael Monfils took out Florent Serra 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 and next goes against James Blake, who fended off three match points in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8) win over Marc Gicquel in the second round.

Fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych blitzed Marcos Baghdatis 6-0, 6-1 in 65 minutes and earned a quarterfinals berth against No. 8-seeded Thomaz Bellucci, who got by Harel Levy 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.