Roddick lives up to favourite tag

Andy Roddick demonstrated why he is favourite to win Wimbledon by advancing to the fourth round with victory over Tommy Robredo.

Roddick defeated the highly-rated Robredo 7-6 6-4 6-4 and has yet to drop a set so far in the Championships.

The fifth seed was made to fight all the way in the first set and needed a tie-break to get the better of his young Spanish opponent on Centre Court.

The 20-year-old American was also grateful for the gift of a Robredo double-fault in the tie-break to take it 7-5 after 49 minutes.

Roddick had never been past the third round at Wimbledon before but is attempting to become only the third man since 1985 to win a pre-Wimbledon grass court title and Wimbledon itself in the same year.

His victory in the Stella Artois Championships almost a fortnight ago gave him the chance to join Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt in achieving the double, while Hewitt’s shock first round exit has eased his path to the semi-finals.

He eventually broke Robredo’s serve midway through the second set after forcing only his second break point, and served out to take it 6-4, throwing in his fastest serve of the match so far at 134mph.

Robredo had been beaten by Roddick in all four of their previous meetings, including on grass in the Davis Cup quarter-final in Houston last year.

But the 21-year-old, named after The Who’s rock opera Tommy, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final recently at the French Open, beating Hewitt and former world number one Gustavo Kuerten at Roland Garros.

He refused to be intimidated by Roddick’s power and made him battled to the end, but eventually the American’s class told and he broke to love to race into a 3-1 lead in the third set.

Roddick then comfortably served out to seal victory and a place in the last 16 against Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan.