Battling Beck pushes Roddick all the way

ANDY RODDICK remained on course for a third straight Stella Artois title yesterday with a hard-fought third round victory over Slovakia’s Karol Beck at Queens.

The defending champion won 6-2 3-6 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals and admitted: “It was definitely uncomfortable out there. After the first set he really stepped up his game. I kept saying to myself that maybe he’d get tight if he kept going for those kind of high-risk shots and luckily he did a little bit in the last game.”

Earlier in the day, British number two Greg Rusedski bowed out to fourth seed Radek Stepanek, losing 6-3 7-6 to the world number 16.