Former champion and second-seed Andy Roddick has reached the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, here in Washington. Roddick is one step closer to a showdown with world number-one Andre Agassi.
Roddick won his first hard-court title at this event, two years ago. Wednesday night, the 20-year-old looked like he could add another Legg Mason title to his list of achievements.
But first Roddick had to get past Bob Bryan of the United States, in his first match of the tournament. The world's sixth-ranked player, Roddick was taken to a tiebreaker in the first set, seven-six, but won the second set and the match, six-four. Roddick plays Greg Rusedski of Britain Thursday. The American says he knows the match will be a tough one.
"He's going to be coming in a lot I'm sure," Roddick said. "I'm going to have to try to take my returns well and take care of my serve. He's definitely going to be dictating play on his serve and I hope to do the same thing. It's definitely going to be tough."
Other winners Wednesday included third-seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, fourth-seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 13th-seed Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, and 16th-seeded American Brian Vahaly.
