TENNIS in DEPTH.

Andy Roddick and Sweden’s Robin Soderling battled for a quarterfinal spot in the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, and Roddick captured the win in three tight sets, 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(5). 

Roddick served 27 aces, earned 12 break points, and faced only one break point the entire match.

Early in the first set, the No. 1 American broke the fifth seed and ran away with the lead, taking it 6-4. With momentum on his side, Roddick broke again early in the second, but Soderling proved why he’s a Top 10 ATP player and shortly after, broke right back. From that game, the tides turned and the Swede stayed in control to edge out the second set in a ‘breaker, 7-6(7). The third and determining set displayed top tennis with both players flattening out their forehands and swinging fiercely. At 5-6, Roddick had three break and match points, but Soderling saved them and sent the victory to be decided by another tie break.

Even though the French Open finalist earned the first mini-break with a down-the-line forehand on Roddick’s approach, the 2003 US Open champ immediately broke back and earned a crucial mini-break to have double match point at 6-4. However, Soderling held with a reliable forehand winner, which meant that Roddick would serve for the win, and that first serve closed this match and sent Andy to his eighth quarterfinal of 2010, 6-4, 7-6(7), 7-6(5), after two hours and 45 minutes of play.

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Kim Clijsters was an easy third-round victor, while defending Rogers Cup champ Elena Dementieva was an upset victim Thursday at this $2 million Canadian event, a U.S. Open tune- up.

The fifth-seeded former world No. 1 Clijsters pummeled Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-1 on the hardcourts at Uniprix Stadium. The big-serving Kanepi was a surprise Wimbledon quarterfinalist last month.

Clijsters is the reigning U.S. Open champ and fresh off her title in Cincinnati last week. She captured this Rogers Cup tournament, in Toronto, in 2005.

Up next for Clijsters in Friday’s quarterfinals will be quality Russian Vera Zvonareva.

Chinese Zheng Jie stunned a fourth-seeded Dementieva in 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 fashion. Zheng was a surprise Aussie Open semifinalist back in January.

The two-time major runner-up and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dementieva beat former No. 1 Maria Sharapova in last year’s all-Russian Rogers Cup finale in Toronto, as this event shifts between Toronto and Montreal each year.

Former top-10 star Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her recent winning ways by ousting seventh-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 on Day 4. The 11th-seeded two-time major champion Kuznetsova corralled her eighth win in nine tries on Thursday and was a titlist in San Diego two weeks ago.

Kuznetsova’s quarterfinal opponent will be Zheng.

 Zvonareva added another win to her great summer, as she cooled off red-hot Hungarian Agnes Szavay in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Szavay had won her last 12 matches heading into Thursday and was seeking a third title in three events, with recent titles coming in Budapest and Prague.

Meanwhile, surging 10th-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka drilled ninth- seeded Chinese Li Na 6-3, 6-3 and 17th-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli of France leveled Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-1. The lefthanded Benesova stunned top-seeded former world No. 1 Serb Jelena Jankovic here in the second round.

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Andy Murray came from a set down to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

Murray dropped the opening set to Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis and had to save three break points early in the second.

But the world number four finally found his touch to break Gulbis in the sixth game before winning his next two service games to love to level the match.

The decider began with the players exchanging breaks of serve, with Murray again crucially saving break points to keep in touch.

The Scot then powered through the subsequent tie-break, moving into a 6-1 lead before taking it 7-4 to complete a 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/4) victory.

“The conditions were very warm, I was struggling a little bit early on to control the ball and he was hitting huge and making it very difficult,” Murray said.

“(Now) I need to up my game, get some good rest and hopefully I can get given an evening match because it’s been seven days in a row I’ve played between 12 and three o’clock and it’s been tough.”

Murray, who successfully defended his title in Toronto last week, will face American wild card Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals, a player he has lost to twice this year.

A slimmed-down Fish reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in over two years with a 7-5 6-2 win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

He smashed 18 aces and dropped just eight points on serve and said: “I served great today and really was able to neutralise my serve games and hold with relative ease.”

Second seed Novak Djokovic was impressive in beating Argentinian David Nalbandian 6-1 7-6 (9/7).

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Kim Clijsters dug herself out of a deep hole to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Wednesday night at the US$2 million Rogers Cup.

After dropping the first set, the fifth-seeded Clijsters was down 4-1 in the second and had to fight off two break points to keep her match alive against the aggressive Mattek-Sands, a qualifer ranked 101st in the world.

Mattek-Sands continued to attack the net in the third and got a service break, only to give it back to the 27-year-old Clijsters, a two-time U.S. Open champion, is gunning for a second straight title after winning her 38th career tournament last week in Cincinnati.

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Eight of the world’s top 10 players are in Ohio ahead of the final grand slam of the year, which starts at Flushing Meadows on August 30, and world number one Rafael Nadal led a good day for the more-fancied names with a comfortable 6-2 7-5 win over American qualifier Taylor Dent.

Roger Federer had an even easier ride through to the next round after Denis Istomin retired after 36 minutes of their match with the Swiss leading 5-2.

Second seed Novak Djokovic saw off the challenge of fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 6-3 7-5 to record his 100th victory at a Masters 1000 event and set up an enticing meeting with David Nalbandian, who won through after John Isner retired from their match leading 5-4.

Fifth seed Robin Soderling needed to come from a set down to beat former world number one Lleyton Hewitt 4-6 6-3 7-5 while Nikolay Davydenko (sixth) was also pushed all the way by Robby Ginepri 6-2 6-7 (7/5) 6-2.

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, the eighth seed, was the highest-ranked player to fall as he was beaten by wildcard Mardy Fish 7-6 (7/1) 7-6 (7/4).

Big-serving Gulbis also sprung a surprise as he fired down 21 aces to beat 13th seed Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (10/8) 6-3 7-6 (7/5) and book a third-round meeting with Murray.

Ninth seed Andy Roddick did just about enough to beat world number 50 Thiemo de Bekker 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 while David Ferrer (10) survived a tough-looking encounter with 21st-ranked Sam Querrey 7-5 6-2.

World number 32 Julien Benneteau will play Nadal in the next round after he beat Stanislas Warwinka 6-4 6-2, while Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber earned himself a shot at Federer after recovering from a terrible second set to beat qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-0 1-6 6-3.

France’s Richard Gasquet progressed with a 6-4 6-2 win over Michael Berrer.

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Justine Henin will be sidelined for the rest of the year as she recovers from an elbow injury.

Henin has not played since suffering a partial ruptured ligament of her right elbow at Wimbledon and while the 28-year-old Belgian expects to resume light training in October she will not return to competitive action until the new year.

 ”I’m doing everything required by my medical team to get a good recovery of the injury I had at Wimbledon.

“I took several medical examinations in recent days and (things) are going in the right direction, it is encouraging news.”

“It is still a slow recovery so I need to be patient again until the end of 2010.

“For my preparation for competition in 2011 I cannot take any risks, so I hope to go back to practice in October and I will work hard to get ready for the new season.”

Henin’s first scheduled event of 2011 is at the Hopman Cup in Perth, which begins on New Year’s Day.

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“I had almost non-stop icing for two days, to prevent swelling. My ankle has reacted quite well to the treatment and I still hope to play in New Haven next week. It’s going to be touch and go, but fingers crossed. I’m in close contact with doctors, my new physio is doing a great job and together we are doing everything we can to be back on the court as quickly as possible, without taking any risks.”

“Kim again showed what a great person she is by her reaction to it all. Not only was she very sympathetic after the match but the next day, as she was preparing for the final and I was seeing the doctor again, she came to me again to show her support. It’s rare in tennis to see this kind of generosity and it meant a lot.”

“It’s been an eventful week! I was obviously very happy with my play in Cincinnati. My match against Azarenka in the first round was one of my most fun matches in a long time; I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the stadium, and the intense competition.”

 ”Beating a top player gave me a lot of confidence and I was able to take that into my next matches. I have been asked many times in the past few months about when I am going to move up the rankings and compete for titles again. I always say it will take time and I have to be patient.”

 ”Even though I am very happy with my play last week, I am not getting too carried away. It’s important that I show consistency now.

What makes it even harder is the injury I got in the semis against Clijsters. It couldn’t have come at a worse time! I was very worried after feeling a crack, but then also very relieved when I found out that it is a strain rather than a bone fracture.”

“I received many messages of support, before and after this injury, and I’m very grateful to everyone who took the time to send me their wishes.”

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Jelena Jankovic of Serbia lost her second-round matchup with qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Tuesday night.

Jankovic has played only four matches in three tournaments this month after missing two weeks with an ankle injury she says is completely recovered.

“I didn’t really feel like a top-five player out there,” said Jankovic, who has never won the Rogers Cup. “My game hasn’t been at the top level for the last couple of tournaments.”

The U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam where Jankovic has reached the final, losing to Serena Williams in 2008.

Jankovic is hoping she can find her game in the short time that remains before the start of the final Grand Slam of the year on Aug. 30.

“I really wanted to play matches here, and at the last tournament, but I didn’t do that and now I haven’t played many matches before the U.S. Open,” Jankovic said. “So I’ll just try my best over there, and hopefully I’ll be better.”

Benesova, ranked No. 75 in the world, won her sixth match in the past five days, winning three on the weekend in qualifying plus her first-round singles and doubles matches on Monday.

“I think it was good for me because I haven’t had a very good season this year,” said Benesova, who improved her 2010 singles record to 17-18. “It was good for my confidence.”

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