Roddick Rolls Robredo; Johansson Next

Tonight Andy Roddick extended two winning streaks. He now has 11 straight match wins at the US Open and an improved 7-0 head-to-head lead over his former foe in the juniors, Tommy Robredo.

He started off the match with a whoping 144 mph serve and concluded with similar bang: an ace out wide.

At the end of the match, Roddick stood one step closer to defending his title with a straight sets win 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, refusing to surrender a set to Robredo for the seventh time in as many meetings.

Roddick broke Robredo once in the first set, twice in the second, and once in the third to solidify his victory, but to Robredo’s credit, he was no slouch, playing solid baseline tennis and ripping his inside-out forehand at every chance, a la Jim Courier.

Robredo earned his first break point of the match in third set during the second game, but two solid serves, at 139 and 141 mph, erased both break points. He would later get to deuce in the fifth game after digging deep for a volley, but again, Roddick’s serve proved too lethal.

The Spaniard also saved a break point on his own serve in the seventh game, keeping hope alive late in the third set.

Roddick took Robredo to deuce in the ninth game, engaging in a superb rally that had both men running from side to side on the court. A stab at a backhand return kept Robredo in the point, and when Roddick didn’t put away the resulting overhead, his fellow 22-year-old opponent ripped one of his famous forehands for a winner. At this point, Roddick gave up on the point, taking a New York frame of mind, tossing his arms down in a “Ah, feget about it” attitude. When in Rome…

No problem, as Roddick managed to serve out the match, putting an exclamation point at the end of the match with an ace, advancing to his third consequtive quarterfinal.

Next up will be No. 28 seed Johansson of Sweden, who had an excellent run earlier this summer in Toronto, reaching the quarterfinals.