World number two men's tennis player Andy Roddick of the United States has reached the quarterfinals of the Stella Artois grass-court tournament in London.
Roddick, the second seed, Thursday, defeated Karol Beck of Slovakia in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The American remains on course for a clash with former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who plays Max Mirnyi of Belarus in the third round.
Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France ousted fifth-seed Mario Ancic of Croatia in three sets (7-5, 1-6, 6-3). The French teenager plays the winner of a match between Britain's Greg Rusedski and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
Another Croatian, Ivo Karlovic, scored a straight-set win over Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic (6-2, 6-4). Karlovic plays the winner of the Hewitt-Miryni match.
The grass-court tournament is one of several warm-up events for the third major tournament of the year, Wimbledon, which starts June 20 in London.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
