Top seeds Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Roddick continued their impressive starts to the ATP tournament in Poertschach on Wednesday with both enjoying comfortable second round wins. Roddick, the American world number three and tournament second seed, disposed of Denmark's Kristian Pless 6-4 6-3 while Davydenko beat Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti 6-4 6-2.
Just as in his opening round win over Austrian wildcard Alexander Peya, Roddick relied heavily on strong serving - winning all but nine of his 49 service points.
Pless's chances were apparently not helped by a neck injury midway through the match. "I saw him working his neck a little in the second set but I didn't see it before that," Roddick said. "Either way I get to play again, so it's ok with me."
Roddick's win earned him his first quarter-final spot at a claycourt tournament in over a year and suggested a strong improvement in form since his early exit from this month's Masters Series event in Rome. "I'm now happy with my serve and my forehand," Roddick said. "In Rome I did everything well besides my serve and my forehand. I've improved since then but it can still get better."
Rarely at his best on clay, the former world number one is hoping to fine-tune his game before next week's French Open, where he has never been past the third round.
His next test in Poertschach comes in the form of 20-year-old Frenchman Gael Monfils, who downed Roddick 6-2 6-3 during last year's Rome quarter-finals.
"He beat me pretty good," Roddick recalled on Wednesday. "I don't know if right now he is playing as well as he did last year, but we'll see. I came here to get tough matches to get ready for the French Open."
Davydenko, who is looking to win his third successive title at this event, had to face one of his bogey opponents on Wednesday, with Lapentti boasting a 3-0 record in previous head-to-head meetings with the current world number four.
There was never any danger of a repeat this time around however with the Russian breaking the Ecuadorean three times without reply to set up a last eight meeting with Argentina's Juan Monaco. Monaco, who won his first ATP title in his home city of Buenos Aires in February, booked his own quarter-final place with a 6-3 6-1 win over America's Michael Russell.