Football
Reuters 15y

UPDATE 1-Tennis-Roddick reaches Lyon quarter-finals, Gasquet out

(updates with Gasquet, adds byline)

By Eric Salliot

LYON, France, Oct 23 - Top seed Andy Roddick
served a barrage of aces to beat fellow American Robby Ginepri
7-6 7-6 and reach the Lyon Grand Prix quarter-finals on
Thursday.

"Robby certainly played better than me today and my serve
obviously made the difference," said the former world number
one, whose 26 aces included one on a set point for Ginepri in
the second tiebreak.

Roddick faces Robin Soderling for a place in the last four.
The seventh-seeded Swede easily swept past Belgian qualifier
Christophe Rochus 6-1 6-2 in only 46 minutes.

Soderling beat Roddick in the quarter-finals in Memphis
earlier this year in their only encounter so far.

"It is going to be hard for me," Roddick said.

The American, who is sixth in the race for the season-ending
Masters Cup, is bidding for one of the three remaining places in
the eight-man Shanghai event in November.

By contrast, Richard Gasquet, who played the Masters Cup
last year, suffered another frustrating defeat when he was
beaten 6-4 3-6 7-6 by Belgian Steve Darcis.

The second-seeded Frenchman served for the match in the
third set but failed once again in a season to forget.

"If I end my season in the Top 20, it will be a huge
miracle. I can't wait for the end of the season. I want to be a
new player in 2009," said Gasquet, who is ranked 15th.

Darcis plays another Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, in the
quarter-finals.
(Writing by Bertrand Boucey, editing by Sonia Oxley)

^ Back to Top ^