Update 5:30 pm. Seasoned tactician Andy Roddick produced his own version of Muhammad Ali’s ‘rope-a-dope’ by outsmarting big-hitting Alexandr Dolgopolov to continue his Brisbane International love affair on Wednesday.
The defending champion weathered an early onslaught from the Ukrainian before ruthlessly dismantling the world No.48 for a 6-4 6-1 knockout in 57 minutes.
The impressive physical and tactical display took Roddick into the quarterfinals where he is expected to meet another crowd favourite, fifth-seed Marcos Baghdatis, on Thursday night.
Like heavyweight champion Ali in his memorable Rumble in the Jungle triumph over George Foreman, the world No.8 was happy to stay in his corner and soak up a number of blows before pouncing on the rising Dolgopolov.
Down 2-4, Roddick broke back against the 22-year-old and then won 10 of the next 11 games.
“I knew that he was aggressive to the point of psychosis,” he said. “He came out in the first six games and I didn’t really do much wrong.
“When someone is going to try and hit a winner from whatever ball they get on the very first shot, and if they convert, there’s very little you can do.
“It was my plan to make him come up with those shots for the better part of a couple of hours and it caught up to him a little bit.
“And when it caught up to him it got away from him pretty quickly.”
Roddick said the ability to work out and dismantle a tennis opponent was one of the most enjoyable things about the sport.
“There’s not a lot of sports where it’s one on one and there’s no coach involvement during it,” he said.
“You’re out there and have got to figure it out. The plan that you’ve had beforehand has to be flexible and adjusted and you have to change it on the go.”
Now with a 7-0 record in Brisbane, the Texan, who is donating $100 to Queensland flood relief for every ace he hits, is regarded as an honourary Australian by fans at Pat Rafter Arena.
He had the crowd eating out of his hand at the end of the match in a court-side interview where he talked up the city, cracked jokes and even plugged his wife Brooklyn Decker’s new movie.
Asked what he thought of Rafter Arena, he said: “I like the name of it, but they may have named it ‘Sorry Mate Arena’ after his ball tosses.”
Roddick fired down 15 aces against Dolgopolov to give him a total of 20 for the tournament thus far.
In other men’s matches, seventh seed Florian Mayer eliminated Lithuanian Richard Berankis 6-4 4-6 6-4 while Columbian Santiago Giraldo beat Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-4.