Cincinnati (USA), Aug 15: Guillermo Coria, the highest seed remaining in the Tennis Masters series-Cincinnati draw, moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-1 win over Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

Sixth seed Coria, who won three clay court titles last month, established a 70 per cent first serve percentage.
He was joined in the quarter-finals by red-hot American Andy Roddick who beat James Blake in straight sets yesterday.
Coria was able to save four of five break point opportunities in the 75-minute match, only surrendering his serve in the third game of the first set.
"The serve is very important not only here in hard court, but here it's really important," said Coria, who now holds a 3-1 career edge over Youzhny.



"As much free points as you can get on your serve, it's better. So I'm working a lot on the serve."



Coria was able to break Youzhny's serve on five of 12 chances - in the second, sixth and eighth games of the first set and the fourth and sixth games of the second set.



"Even if the score was 2 and 1, I felt that it was a pretty tight match," said Coria. "I had a couple of opportunities at the beginning. I took those opportunities to break Youzhny. I think he was a little bit disappointed at those moments. And then I just kept there and Youzhny was a little out."


Bureau Report