Defending champion and top seed Andy Roddick swept past Austria's Oliver Marach 6-3 6-4 at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston on Wednesday, setting up a quarter-final clash with in-form German Tommy Haas.
Roddick, who has reached the finals in Houston for five consecutive years, won convincingly for the second straight day but said he would welcome a day off before facing fifth seed Haas.
"I was a little low on energy, I wasn't expecting to play back-to-back," Roddick told the ATP website. "I'll be glad to have a day off tomorrow before playing Tommy on Friday."
Roddick, who is still chasing his first title of the season, has won the US Clay Court crown three times, compiling a record of 25-2 on the Houston clay.
Haas, however, is enjoying the ATP Tour's spring swing through the USA having already picked up titles in Delray Beach and Memphis.
The former-world number two advanced with a 6-1 7-6 win over compatriot Alexander Waske.
Haas, who defeated Roddick to lift the US Clay Court title in 2004, easily took the opening set but went 2-5 down in the second before rallying to win in a tie-break.
In first round action, fourth seed and Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who accepted a wild card to play the event, advanced with a 6-4 7-6 win over American Jesse Witten.
Jet-lagged Baghdatis also went down 2-5 in the second before recovering to close out the match in straight sets.
"I was a bit tired so I'm very satisfied to get through in two sets," said Baghdatis. "If I went to a third set it would have been tough, so I fought very hard to win the second set."
Second round results:
1 Andy Roddick (USA) beat Oliver Marach (Austria) 6-3 6-4
5 Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Alexander Waske (Germany) 6-1 7-6
First round results:
4 M Baghdatis (Cyprus) beat J Witten (USA) 6-4 7-6
M Daniel (Brazil) beat 6-L Horna (Peru) 6-3 6-4
7 P Goldstein (USA) beat J Tipsarevic (Serb & Mont) 6-3 6-3
