Andy Roddick beats Rajiv Ram at Atlanta

Georgia: Top-seeded Andy Roddick weathered high temperatures to beat Rajeev Ram 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-3 in the second round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Thursday. Roddick, who will face seventh-seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals, is aiming for his 20th career tournament title on hardcourts and third this year.

Malisse defeated Ukraine's Illya Marchenko 6-3, 6-3, while third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt lost a late match 6-4, 6-2 to Slovakia's Lukas Lacko. Roddick improved his ATP tour-leading match record to 27-4 on hardcourts. "The first game of the third, I was down a couple of break points," Roddick said. "If he breaks the first game of the third, I think it's a long way back because he started serving a little bit better in the second set. That was probably the pivotal moment in the match."