BRISBANE, Australia -- Reigning champion Andy Roddick eased into the quarterfinals, while his good friend and fellow American Mardy Fish lost to last year's runner-up here, Radek Stepanek, at the 2011 season-opening Brisbane International tennis event, an Australian Open tuneup.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Roddick handled Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-1 on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Centre. Roddick scalded 15 aces in the brisk 56-minute affair.
Roddick's round-of-eight opponent here on Friday will be fifth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. an easy 6-2, 6-2 victor against Poland's Lukasz Kubot. The capable Baghdatis was the Australian Open runner-up to the great Roger Federer five years ago.
A fourth-seeded world No. 16 Fish, meanwhile, succumbed to the Czech Stepanek 6-3, 6-1. Fish fired nine aces, but was unable to break Stepanek's serve while the gritty Czech tallied four breaks en route to victory.
Stepanek, seeking a third straight trip to the final here, lost to Roddick in last year's finale and captured this tournament in 2009.
In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 6 Feliciano Lopez of Spain fell to South Africa's Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-1, while No. 7 German Florian Mayer got past Lithuanian qualifier Richard Berankis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Mayer will encounter Stepanek in the quarters.
One other Day-4 matchup saw Colombian Santiago Giraldo ground German Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4.
On Thursday, top-seeded French Open runner-up Robin Soderling of Sweden will take on German Michael Berrer in a second-round bout, while Roddick will battle Baghdatis and Anderson will meet Giraldo in quarterfinals.
The winner of this $474,050 tournament will collect $73,000.
