Roddick sets sights on Gonzalez after grinding win

Andy Roddick won a war of attrition with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to claim a fourth round showdown with former finalist Fernando Gonzalez at the Australian Open on Friday.

In a dour three-and-a-half hour contest, the American seventh seed proved the more consistent to register a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win on Rod Laver Arena.

Roddick, who is now 8-0 for the new season after his lead-up Brisbane tournament victory, will now play Chilean 11th seed Gonzalez, who was beaten here in the 2007 final by Roger Federer.

Gonzalez came through a tough five-setter 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 against Kazak Evgeny Korolev.

Roddick, a four-time Australian semi-finalist, was relieved to get through to the round of 16 after dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker.

"I felt like I was real close to getting on top of the match and turning it into a little bit more comfortable. I just didn't quite get there," he said.

"But the only thing that matters, you're just trying to get through a day, and that happened, so no complaints."

In a tight match, the American earned three service breaks and left-handed Lopez just one as both players probed away in patient long rallies.

But it was Roddick's greater groundstroke consistency that won through as the 46th-ranked Lopez committed 60 unforced errors to the American's 21.

"I wanted to take my chances with approaches on his backhand side," he said.

"He was sticking passing shots pretty regularly. I was kind of fighting my own intuition there. "

Roddick stretched his record over Lopez to 6-0 and now switches his sights to Gonzalez and the Chilean's booming forehand.

"He's a very dangerous player. Some days he comes out, looks like he's playing ping pong the way he can sling the ball around," Roddick said.

"I mean, it's going to be a completely different match-up than I've had in the last couple of matches.

"I don't think there are going to be a lot of secrets out there. I think we played each other 11 times, so I don't think anybody's going to be real shocked with what they're seeing."

Roddick leads Gonzalez 8-3 after winning their last two meetings at 2008 US Open and 2007 Tennis Masters Cup in China.

Roddick played down suggestions that the stakes were higher for him in the latter stages of his career to win a second Grand Slam to add to his 2003 US Open triumph.

"I'm going to put in the hard yards before I get to a tournament. But once you're there, you're just trying to get through some days," he said.

"It's tough to predict health, but certainly I'm looking at I'd probably say at least three, four more years."

Roddick is looking to go at least one stage better than his four losing semi-final appearances here against Rainer Schuettler (2003), Lleyton Hewitt (2005) and Roger Federer in 2007 and last year.

Gonzalez said he would have to raise his level against Roddick.

"It's going to be tough. For sure I have to play better if I want to beat him. He's playing a good level," Gonzalez said.