WASHINGTON, 2 August 2003 — Second seed Andy Roddick defeated Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-3, 7-6 in their first meeting since last month’s explosive clash at Wimbledon to reach the fourth round of the $600,000 Washington Classic on Thursday.

World number one Andre Agassi also progressed, charging past Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian 6-3, 6-2 in 58 minutes to take his career record to 6-0 against his regular practice partner.

Rusedski let rip with a string of expletives as he questioned the umpire’s decision during their second-round match at Wimbledon but there were no verbal fireworks this time — only power tennis from two of the game’s hardest hitters.

Roddick saved three break points in the opening game of the match and broke Rusedski in the next game for the only service break of the night. In the second set tie break, Roddick led 4-3 on serve when he thumped a backhand passing shot that left his opponent motionless at the net. The American went on to claim the tie break 7-4 to close out the match.

Agassi now plays defending champion James Blake of the United States, who overcame Germany’s Lars Burgsmuller 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

In other matches, American Mardy Fish, the 11th seed, stunned fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and third seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand beat American Brian Vahaly 7-6, 6-4.

Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez, the fourth seed, knocked out Mario Ancic of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 while 10th seed Tim Henman of Britain swept past eighth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-4.

Seventh seed Max Mirnyi of Belarus recorded an emphatic 6-1 6-3 victory over American Mike Bryan.

Philippoussis, Grosjean, Kuerten Advance

In Los Angeles, Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis beat Michael Chang 6-2, 6-4 at the $380,000 Los Angeles ATP event on Thursday to set up a clash with Brazilian hero Gustavo Kuerten.

Fifth seed Philippoussis needed just 30 minutes to win the first set then jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second before the 16-year tour veteran Chang fought back to tie it at 3-3. Philippoussis advances to the quarterfinals to face three-time Roland Garros champion Kuerten who beat American Eric Taino on Thursday 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

All four seeded players in action on Thursday won their matches. Second seed Sebastien Grosjean, fourth seed Kuerten and seventh seed Wayne Ferreira all advanced.

In other matches on Thursday, French star Grosjean won easily over young American Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-3 in a late evening match and South Africa’s Ferreira beat American Alex Bogomolov 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.

Henin-Hardenne Toils Before Ousting Dementieva

In Carlsbad, California, French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne had to call on all her reserves on Thursday to beat 13th seed Elena Dementieva 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the $1 million Acura Classic.

Second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium thrashed French teenager Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-1 and now faces unseeded American Lisa Raymond, who toppled former French and Australian Open champion Mary Pierce 7-6, 6-4.

Fourth seed Lindsay Davenport showed no ill effects from her foot injury as she breezed past Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya 6-0 7-6 to clinch a meeting with fellow American Chanda Rubin in the last eight.

Sixth seed Rubin survived a stern test from ninth seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Russian Nadia Petrova overwhelmed seventh seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal against Henin-Hardenne.

French Open semifinalist Petrova was lethal, cracking 25 winners to only 11 from the slim Slovakian to follow up in style her victory over 12th seed Amanda Coetzer in the second round. Russian Elena Likhovtseva upset 10th seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 while Russian teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova put out fellow countrywoman and 16th seed Elena Bovina 7-6, 6-2.

Koukalova Books Final Berth at Polish Open

In Sopot, Poland, Czech Klara Koukalova won 12 straight games to come from a set down against Hungary’s Petra Mandula yesterday and reach the Polish Open final.

Mandula, a quarterfinalist at the French Open in 2001, lost her cool as the temperature rose in the sun-baked seaside resort of Sopot, helping the 77th-ranked Koukalova claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Koukalova looks the outsider in today’s final of the $300,000 WTA event.

In men’s quarterfinal action, David Ferrer easily beat Andreas Vinciguerra 6-1, 6-2 as Spain’s claycourt specialists dominate the 500,000 euro ($558,700) ATP event.