Andy Roddick tops Sam Querrey at Legg Mason

Roddick tops Querrey at Legg Mason

WASHINGTON — Andy Roddick became the 36th player to reach 500 career match victories as a professional, beating Sam Querrey 7-6 (4), 6-4 on Thursday night in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

At 500-157, Roddick is the fourth active player to reach the milestone, joining Roger Federer, Carlos Moya and Lleyton Hewitt, who dropped a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) decision to second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro on Thursday.

Roddick had three aces, six double faults and lost his serve two times, but won three break points and put in a high percentage of first serves and groundstrokes to keep the pressure on Querrey, who had reached the finals in three straight tournaments and won the hardcourt event in Los Angeles last week.

“I served badly tonight. It’s almost gratifying because it’s a match I wouldn’t have won before,” said Roddick, who said the humid conditions also contributed to both players having off nights. “He had the same deal. You won’t see us break each other that many times very often.”

Roddick lost his first service game at love with two double faults, but countered by breaking Querrey on his opening service game. Another break of Roddick’s serve put Querrey up 3-2, but Roddick evened the match at 4 with a break.

“I’ve been able to get over stuff a little bit faster on court and then in the middle of the match, stay the course,” Roddick said. “When I broke back the second time, I said this is my set to win now and it worked out that way.”

Tied at 3 in the tiebreak, Roddick won three straight points to take control, then broke Querrey to go up 2-1 in the second set.

In his first tournament since losing in the Wimbledon final to Federer, Roddick said that entering the match against one of the hottest players on tour was going to be a measuring stick of his own game.

“He has been playing great tennis and I’m coming off the bench so to speak,” said Roddick, who was out with a right hip flexor injury. “I certainly didn’t think I was an overwhelming favorite coming in. I thought tonight would offer a little bit more of a true sense of where I am at as far as my game goes.”

Roddick will face 11th-seeded Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals. Karlovic beat qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-1.

In other third-round matches, fourth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez beat Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-4; fifth-seeded Robin Soderling topped Marc Gicquel 7-5, 5-7, 6-3; eighth-seeded Tomas Berdych edged Philipp Petzschner 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; 10th-seeded Tommy Haas beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 2-6, 6-1; and John Isner stopped Sebastien de Chaunac 6-2, 6-4.

Del Potro, the 2008 Legg Mason champion, dropped the first set for the second straight match before rallying in the second and then was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third. Del Potro lost the game at love and both players held their final service game, setting up the tiebreaker. Tied at 2, del Potro earned a mini-break with a backhand winner down the line that started a run of five consecutive points.

“Today we had a great match,” said del Potro, who will face Soderling in the quarterfinals. “I had good shots and good serves and that was the game. … The key was in the tiebreak.”