Andy Roddick reached the quarterfinals for the eighth time in nine tries at the SAP Open by defeating Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-1 in the second round.
The top-seeded Roddick is on course to become the fourth player to win the tournament at least four times.
American compatriot Sam Querrey, seeded seventh, also progressed to the last eight with a 6-4, 6-4 win over another American Taylor Dent in their first career meeting. Querrey also reached the quarters of this event last year.
A third U.S. player, Michael Russell, also won through by beating Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 6-4, 7-5.
Second-seeded Fernando Verdasco beat Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal against Lithuania’s Ricardas Bernakis, who defeated Germany’s Bjorn Phau 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Roddick didn’t seem bothered by the pinched nerved in his shoulder that he suffered in his five-set loss to Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open last month or his knee injury that has limited his practice time.
“Tonight it was just coming off a bit firmer and I was able to move the ball around a bit more that comes from getting a match in,” Roddick said.
Mayer matched Roddick point-for-point early in the match but Roddick broke him to go up 5-3 and finished the him off to win the first set.
In the second set, Roddick began to dominate and a frustrated Mayer slammed his racket down after Roddick broke his serve to go up 2-1.
Roddick broke Mayer’s service again in the fifth game when he went up 4-1.
“This was a good match for me,” Roddick said. “I felt like he had big swings and I thought that forced him to play a bit more aggressively on the first ball of a point, which in turn creates a little bit of a more hit or miss deal for him which caught with him tonight.”
Roddick will face Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the last eight.
Spain’s Verdasco had trouble with Becker in the first set but was able to easily defeat him in the second set.
“I started playing well but he started playing unbelievable,” Verdasco said. “He wasn’t missing any balls. But I was able to break him at 5-4 in the first with a tough game and I got some confidence from that and maybe he lost some confidence.
“I was able to break him again and gained some more confidence and in the second set I played really good.”
