24 July 2004	Saturday	06 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

NEW YORK, July 23: Top seed Andy Roddick overcame blisters on his right hand and inclement weather to win two matches and advance to the last eight at the RCA Tennis Championships in Indianapolis on Thursday.

The defending champion finished off qualifier Michel Kratochvil in a rain-suspended match in the afternoon and ousted 15th-seeded Robby Ginepri 7-6, 6-4 in a night match.

Roddick won the opening set 6-4 and was trailing Kratochvil 2-5 when heavy rain suspended play on Wednesday night. On resumption, the Swiss wasted little time taking the second set 6-2, but the US Open champion edge the third set 6-4.

The American then had to sit out another rain delay before taking the court for his match against Ginepri. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, the pair swapped five breaks before Roddick finally held serve to move into a last eight match against sixth-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.

Hrbaty struggled in his third round match but finally overcame 11th-seeded Swede Joachim Johansson 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Thursday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):

SECOND ROUND: 1-A Roddick (US) beat Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

THIRD ROUND: Roddick beat 15-Robby Ginepri (US) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; 6-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat 11-Joachim Johansson (Sweden) 7-6 (11-9), 4-6, 7-6 (7-1); 3-Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat 14-Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; 4-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat Alex Bogomolov Jr (US) 6-3, 6-0; 10-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4; 12-Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Rik De Voest (South Africa) 6-1, 7-5; Gregory Carraz (France) beat Todd Reid (Austrlia) 7-5, 6-3; Noam Okun (Israel beat Karol Beck (Slovakia) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

SERENA IN QUARTERS

CARSON: Top seed Serena Williams rediscovered her best form to trounce Aranxta Parra Santonja 6-0, 6-3 and move into the quarterfinals of the JP Morgan Chase Open on Thursday.

Serena was joined in the last eight by her sister and second seed Venus, who crushed Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-1 on a day when seven of the top eight ranked players in the event advanced.

Serena next lines up against eighth seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over France's Marion Bartoli. Venus will take on eleventh seed Francesca Schiavone, who caused the only upset of the round when she edged out Japanese sixth seed Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6.

Third-seeded American Lindsay Davenport also had an easy day with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 15th-seeded compatriot Amy Frazier. Davenport will face number seven seed Nadia Petrova after the Russian eased past Jelena Kostanic 6-3, 6-2.

THURSDAY'S RESULTS:

THIRD ROUND: 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 10-Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (Israel) 6-3, 6-0; 4-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat 14-Chanda Rubin (US) 7-5, 7-6 (10-8); 1-Serena Williams (US) beat Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) 6-0, 6-3; 7-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Jelena Kostanic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-2; 3-Lindsay Davenport (US) beat 15-Amy Frazier (US) 6-2, 6-4; 11-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat 6-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (7-3); 8-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat Marion Bartoli (France) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Venus Williams (US) beat Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 6-1, 6-1.

CROATIA OPEN RESULTS

UMAG: Results from Croatia Open ATP tennis tournament on Thursday:

SECOND ROUND: 1-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Zeljko Krajan (Croatia) 3-3 - retired; Alex Calatrava (Spain) beat Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) 7-5, 6-3; 5-Alberto Martin (Spain) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-3, 6-1; 6-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) beat Fernando Vicente (Spain) 6-2, 6-1. -Reuters