Roddick searching for answers after Open upset
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-23 09:00

With Roddick's demise she is now the only American left in the draw, but ensured the Stars and Stripes kept fluttering with an easy win over 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

She said though that a left ankle injury picked up in the third round was hampering her, and she needed treatment for it in the second set.

"You know, train really hard, try to get everything that I normally injure better, and then I trip - something happens like that on the court," she said of the injury after beating the Russian 14th seed 6-2, 6-4.

"It's a little frustrating ... it's just one of those things where you shake your head about it in disbelief."

Her match was played with the roof closed on Rod Laver Arena with temperatures hitting 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), forcing play on outside courts to be suspended for the third straight day.

Fourth seed Sharapova also pushed on, dispatching Serena Williams' conqueror Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic in a workman-like 6-4, 6-4.

The Russian, who almost skipped the tournament because of a rib injury, said she felt like she was approaching peak form.

"Little by little I am," she said. "It was good today, I kept my composure when I was down at the beginning of both of the sets.

"I just kept calm and tried to break her and get the momentum back and it went my way in the end."

A confident Petrova, seeded six, continued her low-key assault on the title in an all-Russian affair against Elena Vesnina, winning 6-3, 6-1 to set up a quarter-final against Sharapova.

(China Daily 01/23/2006 page6)