Roddick Through to Quarters After Fish Injury

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Defending champion Andy Roddick moved through to the quarterfinals of The Artois Championships in unfortunate circumstances after his good friend Mardy Fish was forced to retire at the end of the first set.

In what was a high-quality encounter on Centre Court, Roddick took the opening set in a tie-break before Fish called for the trainer after injuring his left ankle. Despite treatment during a medical timeout, he was unable to continue.

“It's just unfortunate for a number of reasons,” said Roddick. “Obviously, Mardy is a friend, I don't want him to be hurt. I want to see him be okay. I thought we were having a pretty good match. I thought the level was pretty good. It's disappointing in that regard, too.”

Roddick, who returned to action this week after a month out with a shoulder injury, was pleased with the way he was able to hit his serve. “Coming off of an injury, we were out there for about an hour, so that's about right for me,” said the four-time Artois champion. “Right now I'm trying to hit it. It's not going in probably as big as it normally does. But that being said, I think I served close to 80 percent today, so that helps.

“It's just going to get better. If you don't serve for three or four weeks, it's going to take a little bit to get the pop back. It's not because I'm in pain that it's not coming off. It will just take a little bit of time to get those three, four, five miles an hour back.”

Roddick, who has now won 25 of his 27 matches at The Queen’s Club, will face either British No.1 Andy Murray or French Open quarterfinalist Ernests Gulbis for a spot in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, 2005 runner-up Ivo Karlovic was handed a place in the last eight in bizarre circumstances on Court One. His opponent, Fernando Gonzalez, was given a warning in the first set for ball abuse and then received a point penalty for racquet abuse as Karlovic served for the first set at 5-3. With the second set seemingly heading towards a tie-break, Gonzalez was broken at 5-5. In his frustration, the Chilean received another penalty for ball abuse and therefore conceded the final game to Karlovic without the big-serving Croat needing to hit another ball.

Karlovic will now face either top seed Rafael Nadal or Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals.