MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Roddick didn’t like being the fall guy again. The facts, however, were unmistakable: All the Americans were gone from the Australian Open.
Roddick lost to 19th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka on a cool Sunday night at Melbourne Park. Roddick saw 24 aces whip past him, barely got a look at a break-point chance and didn’t get his own big serve firing in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 fourth- round defeat.
It was only the third time since 2003 that Roddick didn’t reach at least the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park.
Roddick, seeded eighth, had been the last American man standing in the singles field. The women were out before the third round ended. Venus Williams lasted only seven points before she hobbled off with an ailing hip muscle.
Roddick’s ouster came on a day when Roger Federer equaled Jimmy Connors’ Open era mark by reaching his 27th straight quarterfinal at a major, and Francesca Schiavone won the longest women’s match in Grand Slam history — a 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova that took 4 hours, 44 minutes.
In today’s action, fifth-seeded Andy Murray, a finalist here last year, beat No. 11 Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. Murray closed with an ace to eliminate Melzer in straight sets for the second year in a row.
In another men’s match, Alex-andr Dolgopolov, 22, stopped fourth-seeded Robin Soderling’s eight-match winning streak with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory. On the women’s side, second-ranked Vera Zvonareva continued her roll toward a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iveta Benesova.
