Roddick storms through

It was as easy as 1-2-3 for Andy Roddick to book a mouth-watering quarter-final showdown with Marat Safin (pictured) at the Australian Open today.

The top seed and world number one was hardly tested by Sjeng Schalken, whose shoulders drooped and body language spelled defeat as early as the first set.

Roddick has developed a habit of pulverising his opponents this last week, with the straight-sets victory over Schalken his fourth in as many rounds.

It took Roddick just 18 minutes to run through the first set, 79 minutes to wrap up the match and in this form any of Safin’s famed lapses in concentration will be ruthlessly exploited.

Despite his own electric form, Roddick still believes defending champion Andre Agassi remains the man to beat.

The fourth seed today stretched his unbeaten run at the Australian Open to 25 matches with a tough victory over Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan.

Agassi, a four-times champion, has a remarkable record at Melbourne Park and his 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 6-4 win today means he has not dropped a set since the fourth round last year – the equivalent of an entire Grand Slam.

Despite being the oldest man in the draw at 33, he remains a dangerous proposition on a surface that suits his game well.

“There are a lot of guys left in the draw but like when Pete (Sampras) went on his big Wimbledon run I think it’s Andre’s title until someone takes it away from him,” said Roddick.

“I can’t remember the last time in a Slam when you had this number of big names and pre-tournament favourites battling it out in the second week.

“As a fan of tennis, I am pretty excited and looking forward to getting out there.”

Roddick’s average first serve was nearly 40kmh faster than Schalken’s and the gulf in class, desire and determination was about as vast.

“I am getting more and more used to playing Grand Slam matches. Last year I went deep into tournaments and I am becoming more accustomed to it,” he said.

“He has played better against me before. I put him under pressure from the first ball and maybe that had something to do with it.

“The three times I have played him recently, twice last summer when I was playing my best tennis ever, and today I played great.

“I feel like I am getting better each match out there.”

Now for Safin and a hotly-anticipated quarter-final.

The exuberant Russian, unseeded after an injury-plagued season last year, has had to battle his way into the quarter-finals, something the “Old Marat” would have struggled with.

But he recovered from two sets to one down against Todd Martin to win in five and put in another gritty performance to overcome American James Blake 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 in the Vodafone Arena.

The crowd favourite effectively sealed the match with a remarkable break of serve in the fourth set.

Chasing down Blake’s attempted pass, Safin stretched and lost his racket as the ball lobbed high and landed just inside the baseline.

Blake stood speechless, the crowd erupted.

“It was really important for me and at the right moment. But it was just pure luck,” he said.

“I just threw it. I thought I would not get the ball so I just threw the racquet. Normally it doesn’t work that way.”

In a repeat of last year’s quarter-final, Agassi will play ninth seed Sebastien Grosjean after his victory over American Robby Ginepri in four sets today.

The Frenchman, who was beaten in straight sets by Agassi last year, ended Ginepri’s finest performance at a Grand Slam with a 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory on the Margaret Court Arena.

Agassi had to save five set points in the first set before taking it on a tie-break. The only time I had played him was at Wimbledon, when he beat me,” said Agassi afterwards.

“I had utmost respect for his firepower and had to make sure I was dictating play and not backing off. It felt pretty good.”