Andy Roddick walked off a winner on Tuesday, even though video replay kept him on the court longer than he wanted.
Roddick was nursing a lead in the third set when video reviews cost him consecutive points, but he accepted the overrules without complaint and beat qualifier Simon Greul 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.
"I can't be angry about it, because the right call was made," Roddick said. "I'm sure there are going to be times when it's going to be the situation reversed, and I think you're OK with it as long as you know the correct call is being made."
Seeded fourth, Roddick needed four match points to finish off the dangerous Greul, who came into the tournament with one career victory on the ATP Tour, then beat three consecutive top-60 players. He hits an unconventional mixture of shots, most of them accompanied by a grunt that might be the loudest in men's tennis.
"It's amusing when you're winning, and annoying when you're losing," Roddick said.
Roddick smiled in the end, and he'll next play No. 11 seed David Ferrer, who beat No. 29 Olivier Rochus 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 7-5. Their match was the longest of the tournament at 3 hours, 18 minutes.
By contrast, No. 1 Roger Federer took 58 minutes to eliminate unseeded Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3. Federer extended his record winning streak to 20 matches in Masters Series events, and he improved to 25-1 this year.
Also reaching the quarterfinals were unseeded Agustin Calleri and two big-serving Croats, Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic.
No. 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first women's semifinalist by beating No. 21 Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 7-6 (4).
It was former rival John McEnroe who got five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg to change his mind about auctioning off his tennis trophies.
The Swedish great said in a newspaper interview Tuesday that he received calls from several former tennis stars after he announced plans to sell the five trophies and two of his title-winning wood rackets.
It made him think.
"Sure, and then when John McEnroe called me several times and wondered what I was doing, I guess I woke up: `Borg, what has gotten in to you? Have you gone completely nuts?'" he told Swedish tabloid Expressen.
Andre Agassi had also urged Borg not to sell the silver gilt trophies, which had been expected to fetch between ?200,000 and ?300,000 (US$350,000 and US$525,000) at the Bonhams auction house in London.
"But clearly McEnroe convinced me," Borg said.
The long-haired Swede won his five Wimbledon titles between 1976 and 1980, including a grueling five-set victory over McEnroe in his last final. Borg also won six French Open titles before retiring at the age of 26.
Earlier this month, Borg said he would sell the trophies to secure "financial security" for people close to him.
The news set off speculation that Borg, who has had several failed financial ventures after retiring from tennis, was broke.
"Wrong. I am not poor at all. Business is going great and I have nothing to complain about," Borg told Expressen.
"I guess I was tired of seeing the old stuff lying about here in the house. Maybe I though they could bring joy to other tennis enthusiasts," he said. "I didn't think it through. Today I regret it."
World Team Tennis
Pete Sampras was the No. 1 overall pick in the World Team Tennis Pro League draft on Tuesday, chosen by the Newport Beach Breakers.
Sampras, who retired after winning the 2002 US Open for his record 14th Grand Slam singles title, plans to play in about a half-dozen WTT matches.
Venus Williams will play for the Philadelphia Freedoms, Martina Navratilova the Boston Lobsters, and Anna Kournikova the Sacramento Capitals. The defending champion New York Sportimes protected their rights to John McEnroe and Martina Hingis.
The season is from July 6-30, with the finals at Newport Beach, California.
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