General / Editor / 10 May 2007 /

Third seed Andy Roddick blasted past former French Open champion Gaston Gaudio to set up a clash with Juan Ignacio Chela in the last 16 of the Rome Masters.

Roddick was playing for the first time since March because of a hamstring injury he sustained in Miami, but showed no signs of being court-rusty on Foro Italico's clay.

The American, who reached the quarter-finals in Rome last year, overpowered a struggling Gaudio on his way to a 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) win.

Roddick took just 28 minutes to breeze through the first set but Gaudio toughened up to save four match points in the second, before earning a chance to win the set himself at 8-7.

However, Roddick hit a trademark ace and Gaudio then double-faulted to give the American a fifth match point, taken on a volley.

"I was thankful to get through in two," said Roddick. "To win a third set might have been a tall task."
The 28-year-old Gaudio said afterwards that he is considering retirement.
"After Hamburg and Roland Garros, I'll decide whether I'm going to continue," said the Argentine, who won the French Open in 2004.

Roddick faces another Argentinian clay court specialist, Chela, in Thursday's third round in what promises to be a much tighter contest.

The American is 2.06 to match his quarter-final performance of 2006 by claiming victory over Chela, who is the slight favourite in Betfair's Third Round Match Odds market at 1.93.

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