Roddick Into Quarterfinals; Ljubicic Goes Out

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Defending champion Andy Roddick moved into the quarterfinals of the 2006 Stella Artois Championships, extending his winning streak at The Queen’s Club to 17 matches after a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Paradorn Srichaphan.

Roddick, who was won the title in each of the last three years, is looking to join John McEnroe and Boris Becker as the only four-time winners of the event.

The American, seeded No. 3 this year, will now meet Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the last eight, having won four of their six previous encounters. And the two-time Wimbledon finalist was expecting another explosive encounter on Friday.

“It normally is when we play,” said Roddick. “We actually just played on grass in Davis Cup. He's a very capable grass court player. I think once he found his comfort level last year, I think he made quarters, and he definitely had me on the ropes at Davis Cup before I was able to pull through in four sets.

“But I've told people, I was telling people last week before I came to watch out for him, because he hits the ball big enough and he serves pretty well and he has a nice little chipper. So he's going to be dangerous.”

Meanwhile, second seed Ivan Ljubicic was sent crashing out of the tournament after going down 7-6(11), 7-5 to rising French star Gael Monfils.

Monfils will now meet World No. 7 James Blake in the quarterfinals. Blake, a winner of two ATP titles this season in Sydney and Las Vegas, overcame fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the last eight at The Queen’s Club for the first time.

The two met last week in the third round at the French Open, with Monfils winning in five sets.

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