Wawrinka beats Roddick at Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Stanislas Wawrinka ousted Andy Roddick Sunday at the Australian Open, earning a quarterfinals spot against his countryman, world No. 2 Roger Federer.

Wawrinka, a Swiss player seeded 19th, had a service break in each set of a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 upset of the eighth-seeded Roddick. Roddick is the highest seeded men's player to have lost so far in the tournament.

Wawrinka finished off his ninth break-point chance of the first set in the eighth game and went up two sets after a ninth-game break in the second set. A break in the third game of the third set put him in position to advance.

Wawrinka piled up an impressive 67 winners, including 24 aces, against 19 unforced errors. It is the second time, after last year's U.S. Open, he's reached a major tournament quarterfinal,

Federer, the defending Australian Open champion, claimed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Tommy Robredo despite 40 unforced errors in his fourth-round match. Federer won 73 percent of the points on serve, going 20-of-20 on serve in the first set. The win allowed him to tie Jimmy Connors' record of 27 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances.

No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic handily defeated 14th-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-4, 6-0, making just 17 unforced errors and not dropping serve. Djokovic landed 75 percent of his first serves and won 86 percent of the points when he got that first serve in.

His quarterfinal opponent will be No. 6-seeded Tomas Berdych, who had a mere eight unforced errors in getting past Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Berdych faced only one break point in the match.

Djokovic has won four of the five matches with Berdych. Federer owns a 6-1 head-to-head advantage over Wawrinka, including wins in all three of their 2010 meetings.