MELBOURNE, 21 January 2005 — Second seed Andy Roddick outdueled Greg Rusedski in a battle of big-attacking tennis to join Lleyton Hewitt lastnight in the third-round of the $14.7-million Australian Open.

Two years after their last meeting in 2003 in Washington, Roddick picked up where he left off to earn a fourth consecutive victory against the Briton. Rusedski hit 12 aces with Roddick striking 11.

Roddick picked up a 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in 90 minutes as he beat his second straight left-hander of the week after Georgia’s Irakli Labadze.

Roddick’s fire on court was earlier matched by that of Hewitt, who called upon all of his reserves of desire to claim a 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-0, 6-3 result over American James Blake.

Hewitt, the third seed who has never been past the fourth round of his home Grand Slam, showed the pressure he was feeling from the tennis-proud nation as he came through for a fifth victory out of six matches against Blake.

The Australian dropped the first set but leveled as Blake rolled on court and cut his hand on set point in the tie-breaker, an injury which required treatment and colored his form until the end. After an injury timeout, the former Harvard student who nearly broke his neck colliding with a net post in Rome last year, then lost his father and suffered with a facial nerve illness, was never a threat.

Hewitt, his fans offering loud and frequent support from the supporters box, rolled Blake to love in the next set and finished off what could have been a dangerous encounter with ease.

“It was tight all the way through,” said Hewitt, who came to town with a title last weekend at Sydney. “At one set all there was a lot of pressure, I had to hang in. “But he came up with some big serves and kept up the pressure. He kept fighting and try to get on top of him in the fourth set. I have had two tough matches so far. I’ve had to play some of my best tennis.”

Roddick couldn’t have been happier with the quick result: “In the first set, I felt really good out there with exception of the hiccup on serve in the second set. I’m reeling after this result.

Sixth seed Guillermo Coria overcame Brazil’s Ricardo Mello in four sets and seventh seed Tim Henman beat towering Romanian Victor Hanescu in straight sets to keep a Briton in the title chase.

Ninth seeded Argentine David Nalbandian defeated Spain’s Santiago Ventura 6-0, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, while Guillermo Canas took out Fernando Verdasco in another Spanish-speaking showdown. Powerful Spanish youngster Rafael Nadal won a marathon to put out 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny.

Women’s eighth seed Venus Williams is counting on steady improvement match-by-match to see her through after overcoming Shuai Peng, one of five Chinese who began the week, 6-3, 6-1.

The first set featured five breaks of serve before former world No. 1 Williams settled into her rhythm to defeat the 19-year-old ranked 48th.

Top seed Lindsay Davenport and French Open champion Anastasia Myskina both sleepwalked through the early stages before waking up in time for recoveries into the third round.

Davenport stopped Czech Michaela Pastikova 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 while Myskina, seeded third, got her game together for a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Tzipora Obziler.

Russian Elena Dementieva, finalist at the French and US Opens, advanced over compatriot Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-1 while there were wins for seeds Patty Schnyder, Karolina Sprem and Francesca Schiavone.

Alicia Molik survived a tougher-than-expected battle with Japan’s Aiko Nakamura 6-2, 6-4.