At the start of the fourth round, Roddick and John Isner were the only two remaining Americans in the men’s draw.
In the night session in Rod Laver Arena, Roddick was once again dominant on serve. He served 32 aces with no double faults and only yielded four break points to Gonzalez. But Gonzalez made the most of his opportunities, breaking twice.
Roddick had 18 break point chances but only converted on four. Roddick also hit his fastest serve of the tournament at 227 km/h {141 mph}.
“I was lucky to get out of that. Sometimes if you fight and stick around you give yourself a shot, and that’s what happened,” Roddick said.
Isner was soundly beaten by Britain’s Andy Murray in the first match in Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.
Murray’s defense was too good for Isner’s all-out attack. The Scot only committed eight unforced errors and displayed incredible court coverage.
The loss to Murray marked the end of another impressive grand slam showing for Isner. He defeated Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open last year in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the third round.
Isner has improved his fitness and knows that it’ll be a key factor if he wants to climb in the rankings.
“I can probably get a little bit fitter. I’m a lot fitter now than I was last year. And I’m gonna continue to work on that. Just to see how kind of fit Andy Murray is, is kind of something to strive for,” said Isner in his post-match press conference.
Roddick will face Croatia’s Marin Cilic next in the quarterfinals. Cilic got the better of U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in a battle of young 6-foot-6 tennis superstars 5–7, 6–4, 7–5, 5–7, 6–3.
Murray will face No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in a highly anticipated quarterfinal. Nadal beat Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic 6–4, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.
Karlovic fired 28 aces against Nadal but the Spaniard had a good read of the Croat’s serve. He was able to step in closer to the baseline to cut off Karlovic’s angles. Taking the ball early, Nadal was able to connect with some big returns and force Karlovic to make difficult volleys.
