Pretender fails to Dent top seed's hopes

Top seed Andy Roddick has pulverised Taylor Dent 6-2 6-0 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open in a devastating…

Top seed Andy Roddick has pulverised Taylor Dent 6-2 6-0 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open in a devastating display of power and precision.

Roddick dropped serve in the opening game but the U.S. Open champion broke back immediately and quickly seized control under the floodlights as a battle of big-serving Americans turned into a massacre.

Dent's game disintegrated under the fierce bombardment from Roddick and in his frustration he earned a code violation for smashing a ball out of the Rod Laver Arena after committing one of his 11 double-faults.

Roddick, a semi-finalist in Melbourne last year, won 12 consecutive games from 2-2 in the first set and was never threatened by Dent

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He finally put the 27th seed out of his misery on his third match point after just 71 minutes to set up a meeting with Dutchman Sjeng Schalken.