Andy Roddick goes for a place in the quarters of the Swiss Indoors when he takes on Radek Stepanek on Thursday.
Roddick is looking to set up a quarter-final clash with old rival Roger Federer after seeing off fellow veteran Tommy Haas on Wednesday evening. Roddick and Haas have been competing against each other regularly for the past decade but the American is firmly in the driving seat when they play these days and he smashed down 12 aces on the way to a 6-3, 6-4 win.
Stepanek has enjoyed some decent results this year to move himself back up to 25th in the world but he's been surprisingly struggling to make much of an impact indoors so far, crashing out to qualifier Daniel Brands in Vienna last week. He didn't face much of a test in his opening match at the Swiss Indoors, crushing clay-courter Santiago Giraldo 6-1, 6-3.
Roddick has always dominated Stepanek in their previous matches on the tour and he leads 6-1 on their head-to-head. Coincidentally, they have played three times in ATP finals with Roddick winning them all, most recently 7-6(2), 7-6(7) in Brisbane last year.
Prediction: Roddick in two