Meligeni ousts Roddick

Meligeni won in straight sets against Roddick

Thursday's results

Defending champion Andy Roddick was beaten 6-4 6-4 in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic by Fernando Meligeni of Brazil on Thursday.

The American second seed had no answer to Meligeni's quality returns, although there was controversy when a fan's shout interfered with a crucial break point.

But Roddick did not focus on the incident, instead praising Meligeni's game, and even high-fiving him when he sealed victory.

"I don't think I've ever high-fived someone before," Roddick said.

"Kudos to his reflex volleys for tonight."

The controversy came earlier in the match.

On the fifth break point a fan made an 'out' call during the point, which prompted both players to pause despite the ball being called good.

Roddick lost the point as a result, even though Meligeni had walked toward the changeover area thinking, wrongly, his serve had been broken.

"I heard an out call and it was from a fan," Roddick said.

"I was walking back and regrouping towards the changeover.

Agassi enjoyed a straight sets victory

"I talked to the umpire, but he said that there was nothing he could do for fan interference and that was just kind of a raw deal."

Not surprisingly, Meligeni had a different take on the fan's opinion.

"It sometimes happens when people are talking during the match," Meligeni said.

"At this point you cannot start thinking about it. You have to play and whatever the umpire says is OK for us."

Roddick, who squandered an early break in the first set, was made to pay as an unforced error saw the first set slip away, while a double fault gave Meligeni victory.

"I think I played one of my best matches on hard courts. It's the only way to play to beat a guy like him," Meligeni said.

Top seed Andre Agassi of the United States advanced to the quarter-finals but had trouble, beating countryman Brian Vahaly 6-1 7-6.

Agassi overpowered Vahaly in the first set, but had to work harder from the second set onwards.

"He gave them a really good show, too," Agassi said.

"He had to really hang in there, with the way I came out of the blocks and he did that well."

Joining Agassi in the quarter-finals is fourth seed Alex Corretja of Spain, who beat Slovakia's Karol Kucera 6-1 6-1.

Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan knocked out third seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Also making the quarter finals was Chile's Marcelo Rios, who eased past Frenchman Jerome Golmard 6-3 6-1.

America's sixth seed James Blake beat Guillermo Coria of Argentina 6-4 7-5.

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Thursday's results, seedings in brackets:

A Corretja (Spa, 4) bt K Kucera (Slo)
6-1 6-1
P Srichaphan (Tha, 14) bt S Schalken (Hol, 3)
4-6 6-2 6-4
J Blake (US, 6) bt G Coria (Arg)
6-4 7-5
A Agassi (US, 1) bt B Vahaly (US)
6-1 7-6
M Rios (Chi, 5) bt J Golmard (Fra)
6-3 6-1
J Nieminen (Fin, 8) bt A Kim (US)
0-6 6-4 6-3
F Meligeni (Bra, 16) bt A Roddick (US, 2)
6-4 6-4
T Enqvist (Swe, 7) bt L Burgsmuller (Ger)
6-3 7-5

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