Sportsmanship Costs Roddick at Rome Masters Tennis Tournament

Good sportsmanship has cost American Andy Roddick a berth in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters Series clay court tennis tournament in Italy.

Roddick, the top seed, was leading 5-3 in the second set with a triple match point against Fernando Verdasco of Spain when the Spaniard appeared to double fault and lose the match.

However, Roddick said the ball was in, thereby giving Verdasco an ace and allowing the match to continue. The Spanish player saved the next two match points and went on to win in three sets, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

Verdasco next takes on French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria of Argentina, a straight-set winner over Italian Davide Sanguinetti (6-0, 6-4).

Meanwhile, American veteran Andre Agassi earned a quarterfinal berth with a straight-set win over Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia (7-6, 6-3). Agassi takes on Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, a three-set winner over fourth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain (6-3, 3-6, 6-3).The tournament is a key warm-up for the second major tournament of the year, the French Open, which starts later this month in Paris.

Some information for this report provided by AP