Roddick beats Gonzalez to advance in Australia

Melbourne: Andy Roddick kept his cool to wear down a frustrated Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in a fiery late-night battle on Sunday to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The pair slugged it out for almost three-and-a-half hours at the Rod Laver Arena before Gonzalez gifted Roddick victory with a double fault just after one a.m. "I was lucky to get out of that. I took Fernando`s best stuff for the majority of four sets," Roddick said in a courtside interview. "Sometimes if you stick around, you get your reward and that`s what happened.” "I got a little lucky tonight (but) sometimes it`s better to be lucky than good." Roddick had been under pressure for most of the match and his emotions were running high as he began arguing with chair umpire Enric Molina. It was not the first time this week that the American had clashed with the officials and in one of his earlier matches he refused to shake the umpire`s hand after an argument over the rules in dealing with Hawk-eye challenges. Roddick said he still did not understand the rules and admitted he got a lucky break to win the fourth set and leave Gonzalez in a rage. Roddick hit a cross-court forehand that was called out by a linesman. He challenged the call and won, forcing the match into a fifth set. Roddick went straight to his seat but Gonzalez stood his ground and argued that the point should have been replayed, saying he had been in a position to hit the ball but withdrew from the shot because the ball was called out. Smashed Racket Furious at the decision, the Chilean stormed back to his chair, kicking over a drink bottle before slumping down. He was still fuming when he came back on court and dropped his first service game, destroying his racket by smashing it into the ground. "I know he was pretty upset about the challenge and that rule no one seems to know about," Roddick said. "I still don`t know what the rule is. I can certainly sympathise with his frustrations." Gonzalez, a finalist in Australia three years ago, was more composed when he arrived for his post-match news conference and was reluctant to even discuss the point. "It was really close. I don`t know if I let it go, I don`t remember exactly," he said. "We played more than 200 points. It was important, for sure, but it wasn`t the key to the match." Roddick won the Australian Open junior tournament a decade ago but is still chasing his first senior title after coming close on several occasions. He is on great form this year, winning a warmup event in Brisbane, and his opponent in Tuesday`s quarter-finals will be Marin Cilic after the Croatian upset Argentina`s US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3. "I`d love to get through a couple more here," Roddick said. "I`ve lost in the semis here four times so I`d like to go a little further." Bureau Report