Roddick has a skip in his step

Bypassing Beijing proving beneficial

No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva needed just over an hour to advance to the quarterfinals. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - Andy Roddick didn't want to kid himself and he didn't want to lie to others. Sure, there were times during the Olympics when the 26-year-old had second thoughts about his decision to forgo the opportunity to represent the United States in Beijing, especially when his Davis Cup teammate, James Blake, upset top-seeded Roger Federer.

"Every time I watched it I thought about it," said Roddick, who was concerned enough about a tender serving shoulder that he decided to stay stateside, play two tournaments, and put all his tennis eggs in his US Open basket. "I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm fully confident in my decision. I don't think I ever pretended to be."

If Roddick wins the US Open, as he did in 2003, then his decision to skip the Olympics certainly will have been the right one. Yesterday he took another step toward that goal with a 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) win over No. 31 seed Andreas Seppi of Italy. So far, the eighth-seeded Roddick has dropped just one set in three matches, to Ernests Gulbis in the second round, though he has had to play his way out of a few sticky situations. Against Seppi, Roddick's serving arm held up enough to allow for 19 aces, 42 winners, and only 27 unforced errors.

For Federer, winning a gold medal in doubles at the Olympics was his way of salvaging what for him has been a mediocre year. But the best way to truly erase the disappointment of losing in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, and losing the No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal, is to win here. That would go a long way toward restoring confidence.

"If I were to win a big tournament again, one of those Slams, whatever, right away I have the invincibility factor again," said Federer after cruising past 28th-seeded Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, to set up a quarterfinal date with Russian Igor Andreev, who upset the tournament's 13th seed, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. "That's what I'm working for. I was that close in Wimbledon, so I hope to go a step further and win it this time."

While Roddick and Federer were back in the locker room getting post-match massages, 12th-seeded Marion Bartoli was getting rub-downs on every changeover during the latter stages of her 3-hour-5-minute fourth-round loss to No. 29 Sybille Bammer of Austria.

Bartoli, who had knocked out former champ Lindsay Davenport in the prior round, was trying to become the first to oust mothers back-to-back in US Open history. (The third mother in the draw, 32-year-old qualifier Rossana de los Rios from Paraguay, lost to Venus Williams in the second round.) Instead, the 28-year-old Bammer reached the first major quarterfinal of her career, with her 7-year-old daughter cheering courtside.

A late bloomer in tennis, Bammer played her first major here in 2005. In the quarters, she will face second-seeded Jelena Jankovic, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 winner over No. 21 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Waiting in the top half of their draw are 15th-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder, who struggled to defeat Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva, who crushed Li Na of China, 6-4, 6-1, in just over an hour. Dementieva was the gold medal winner in singles in Beijing and the runner-up here to Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2004.

While Bartoli fought valiantly throughout the 7-6 (7-3), 0-6, 6-4 loss, which set the women's record for duration at the Open, eclipsing Justine Henin's three-set victory over Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals in 2003 by two minutes, she did so on an empty stomach.

After feeling ill Saturday, the 23-year-old Frenchwoman had not had any food or drink for more than 24 hours.

"Every time I tried to eat or drink I felt nauseous," said Bartoli, who received on-court treatment for back and stomach pains and muscle cramping, all related to the intestinal virus that prompted a doctor to take her blood pressure during the match and then recommend that she stop playing.

Players receiving mid-match massages have become the norm during the Open's first week, surprising because the weather has been nearly perfect, with temperatures hovering in the low 80s. Spaniard Tommy Robredo had his thighs rubbed even though he was leading Jo-Wilfried Tsonga by two sets in a match he would win, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3. Next up for Robredo will be No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic, who had a tougher-than-expected win over Marin Cilic, 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

Qualifier Gilles Muller earned his massage after toiling for more than four hours in a 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 upset of Nicolas Almagro.

Muller, who fell to the court in ecstasy and exhaustion, now will take on the tournament's fifth seed, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who quietly has made his way through the draw with yet another straight-set win, this time over countryman Dmitry Tursunov, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.