The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Adelaide

Australian wild card Joseph Sirianni advanced to his first ATP quarterfinal after beating American Sam Querrey 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 Wednesday at the Australian men's

hardcourt championships.

Sirianni, 32, broke Querrey's serve to go ahead 4-2 in the deciding set. Serving for the match, he fell behind 0-40 before recovering to win in just under two hours.

The 195th-ranked Sirianni won a wild-card playoff to get into the tournament, then won his first-round match when No. 5 seed Radek Stepanek retired with a heel injury with the Australian leading 7-6 (3), 4-3 and up a service break.

"Its a mental battle out there and I came out with the win today and well just see what happens," Sirianni said Wednesday.

"I'm just going along with this wave, you never know what is going to happen t Im just riding it and enjoying myself. "

Sirianni won two Challenger events in the last six weeks and also won an Australian Open wild-card playoff at Melbourne Park last month.

Later Wednesday, second-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France beat Australian Chris Guccione 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Benjamin Becker of Germany beat American Michael Russell 6-4, 6-4 and Michael Llodra of France defeated Evgeny Korolev of Russia 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia plays his second-round match against Jose Acasuso of Argentina on Thursday.