Australian Open 2011: 3 Men's Seeds Crash Out on Day 3, Helps Andy Roddick

It was a bad day for the seeds on Day Three in Melbourne but a great day for Andy Roddick. A host of top players crashed out of the tournament in the second round, all of which were potential opponents in the American's quarter bracket.

American 16th seed Mardy Fish, world No. 25 Albert Montanes and Argentine No. 26 Juan Monaco all saw their tournament come to an end in the men's draw.

Fish came out the gates flying against former world No. 5 Tommy Robredo before losing the next three sets to go down 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Montanes won just five games against veteran Xavier Malisse, who has only been past the second round once in his previous nine attempts.

For Monaco, it was world No. 62 Robin Haase plotting his downfall in four sets, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Considering all three players were in the fourth quarter of the draw, the biggest winner here was Andy Roddick, the highest-ranked player in this quarter not named Federer.

Following No. 18 seed Sam Querrey's surprise first-round loss to unknown Pole Lukasz Kubot, there are now just four players in the Top 32 left in this section of the draw.

Only Stanislas Wawrinka and Gael Monfils of the seeds in this quarter have yet to play to their second match. Considering how badly Monfils struggled against Thiemo de Bakker, it's a very real possibility that only three seeds will advance to the third round.

Roddick, who beat Igor Kunitsyn 7-6(7), 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday, will now have a considerably easier matchup in Round 3 with Haase, which should give him some margin of error before a potential fourth-round encounter with Wawrinka.

Still, with Federer in his way, a run past the quarterfinals seems unlikely. With an easier road to get there, however, anything is possible as long as Roddick serves well. We know he's going to score a ton of aces, but his game needs to be more than one dimensional; it has been good enough to get into the third round, where the pace is higher and more challenging. So far, he has not played at that level.

As for Federer, nobody in this quarter was ever seen as a real stumbling block before the tournament began; the absence of these seeds does nothing to change that. Should the world No. 2 falter or—what would more likely need to happen, get injured—a Roddick canter to the semifinals is infinitely more attainable with seemingly minimal effort.