Feb 23, 2007, 11:43 GMT
Memphis, TN - Top seed Andy Roddick and defending champion Tommy Haas were second-round winners Thursday at the $665,000 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships.
Roddick, the U.S. Open runner-up and former world No. 1 who titled at this event in 2002 and was a finalist in 2003, squeezed past Germany's Benjamin Becker, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
The second-seeded Haas snuck past American Amer Delic 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) in a match that had no break points. Haas beat Swede Robin Soderling in last year's Memphis finale and also titled here in 1999.
Next up for Roddick will be Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu, who reached the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (7-2), 1-1 upset victory over sixth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer. The match ended when Melzer retired due to a stomach virus at The Racquet Club of Memphis.
Haas' quarterfinal foe will be American wild card Sam Querrey, who beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau (7), 6-3, 6-4.
The No. 3 and 4 seeds also won their second-round matches Thursday. Third seed Andy Murray of Great Britain topped Denmark's Kristian Pless, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); while fourth-seeded American Mardy Fish snuck past promising Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-1, 7-6 (11-9).
Murray, last week's titlist in San Jose, will take on Austria's Stefan Koubek in the quarterfinals. Fish, who won 31-of-32 first-serve points against del Potro, will face Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in Friday's quarterfinals.
The 2007 Memphis champ will pocket $156,550.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Your Talkback on this Story