Roddick, Hewitt Shaky in Advancing at ATP Queens

Roddick defeated No. 16 seed Karol Beck 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while Hewitt likewise dropped the second set in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 win over No. 15 seed Max Mirnyi.

"After the first set I think he really stepped up his game," said Roddick who threw down 13 aces. "For a while there he was playing with not a whole lot of margin on his shots, but pretty consistently...I kept saying to myself that maybe he'd get tight if he kept going for those kind of high-risk shots, and, you know, luckily he did a little bit in the last game."

Other players into the quarterfinals at the Queen's Club Thursday were (3) Tim Henman (d. (Q) Guccione from a set down), (4) Radek Stepanek (d. (14) Rusedski), (6) Thomas Johansson (d. (WC) Murray 7-5 in the third), (7) Sebastien Grosjean (d. (WC) Blake 7-6 in the third), (10) Richard Gasquet (d. (5) Ancic in three), and unseeded Croat Ivo Karlovic (d. Zib) who threw down 22 aces.

Blake blew five match points in his loss to Grosjean.

Johansson was serving at 4-5, 0-30 against the wildcard Murray when the Brit-Scot twisted an ankle then suffered cramps, failing to win another game.

"I'm very disappointed," Murray said. "I think I played a pretty good match, but I'm a little bit annoyed that I wasn't able to finish it. Because I think at 5-4, I was 30-love up, and when I went over my ankle, I couldn't really continue after that. I was getting a lot of cramps and I couldn't really move."

Johansson was very impressed with Murray, and lucky to be handed the pass into the quarterfinals.

"He's already very, very good, but he's going to be even better," Johansson said. "He can certainly be a Top 50 player. He serves 140 miles per hour, and to do that at 18 is very impressive...With his strokes and serve, he is going to be really, really good."

It was bad news for British fans with the loss of Rusedski and Murray, who would have advanced to face Henman.

Friday's quarterfinals line-up is (7) Grosjean vs. (2) Roddick (A-Rod leads meetings 5-1), (3) Henman vs. (6) T.Johansson (Brit leads 4-1), (1) Hewitt vs. Karlovic (first meeting since "Dr." Ivo won at 2003 Wimbledon), and (10) Gasquet vs. (4) Stepanek (first meeting).