Andy Murray will have time to contemplate the pie floater this week. The No. 4-seeded Brit lost a five-set match to Spain's Fernando Verdasco (right) on Monday at the Australian Open, becoming the latest seeded player to get beat at a tournament that hasn't been kind to the "over-dogs."Yet, with five of the top eight seeds through to the quarterfinals, the carnage in the men's draw is much less severe than in the women's draw. Also, don't worry; Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are still on course to collide in the finals. And defending Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, is also still alive and will face No. 7 seed Andy Roddick.
Roddick is the sole American left in the men's draw. No. 9 James Blake, the other American who made it to the round of 16, lost in straight sets to No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday. Tsonga and Verdasco will meet in the quarterfinals.
Roddick and Djokovic have played three times before, with Djokovic holding a 2-1 edge. Roddick pushed Djokovic hard in the quarters of last year's U.S. Open but ultimately fell. Should Roddick lose this match, it will continue a Grand Slam drought not only for him but for all U.S. men. An American man hasn't won a Grand Slam title since 2003, when Roddick won the US Open and Andre Agassi won the Australian title.
It's hard to imagine just how quickly the American men's fortunes have turned. Agassi, Jim Courier, and Pete Sampras combined for 20 Grand Slam titles during the 1990s. Since 2003, however, not only have US men failed to win a Slam tournament, they've rarely even made the finals. Roddick was the last American to do so, and that was in 2006.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Nadal will face No. 6 Gilles Simon and Federer will face No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro.
