Roddick win thumbs-up on form

Players had complained that the old Rebound Ace surface at the Australian Open became sticky and slow in such heat, common at the year8217;s first major, Roddick showed the new surface would not slow down the big hitters.

He will play the winner of tomorrow8217;s match between Marcos Baghdatis and Fernando Gonzalez in Saturday8217;s final of the exhibition event.

Nikolay Davydenko withdrew before a scheduled match at Kooyong today, saying he was struggling to cope in the heat. In the only other competitive match today, Murray beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 7, 6-4, 6-2.