Roddick first to reach Shanghai quarters

SHANGHAI: Andy Roddick became the first player to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday after an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Playing under the closed roof at the Qi Zhong stadium, 10th seed Roddick secured a single break in each set, wrapping up victory with his 11th ace in a controlled display that saw him make just 14 unforced errors.

The victory over the seventh seed for the 29-year-old, with one title to his name this year, comes after tougher tests in the first two rounds, where he beat Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Australian teenager Bernard Tomic was beaten by 12th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5, 1-6, 0-6.

Top seed Rafael Nadal will later face 15th seed Florian Mayer of Germany and Britain's Andy Murray, the number two seed, plays Stanislas Wawrinka, the number 13 seed. (AFP)