Indian Wells, California  - On-fire American Andy Roddick dismissed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2 to send the defending champion out in the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters on Friday.

The 68-minute rout improved Roddick's best start of his career. He stands 23-3 after playing in his fifth quarter from as many events in 2009.

Djokovic, who won Dubai last month but crashed to a pair of Davis Cup defeats a week later in Spain, was humbled in a little over an hour. Roddick ended each set with a break as the Serb lost serve four times.

Roddick will face the winner from top seed Rafael Nadal and Argentine Juan Del Potro.

Djokovic, who has played the last two finals at the Tennis Garden in the desert east of Los Angeles, had no answer for the Roddick attack, which netted the American a 3-2 lead in the series.

Roddick won the Memphis title last month and now has 20 victories at Indian Wells.

On the women's side, Vera Zvonareva followed up on a defeated doubles partner Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3 in their semi-final.

The fourth-seeded Russian winner took less than 90 minutes to go through in spring heat in the desert. Zvonareva, who reached the Australian Open final four, now owns a 4-0 record over Azarenka and has not lost a set in that series.

"I was trying to concentrate and tried to keep my returns in as much as possible," said the winner. "It's not going to happen every day, but I'm pretty satisfied about my game overall today.

"I had a few mistakes here and there, but I was going for my shots. I'm happy to win this one."

Zvonareva claimed the opening set with a break in the sixth game; she broke early and late in the second to seal the win.

Azarenka, who had put out top seed Dinara Safina a round earlier, will move into the WTA top 10 for the first time as a result of her performance.

Zvonareva will face the winner from fifth seed Ana Ivanovic, defending her 2008 title, and tournament teenaged surprise packet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.

"It will be a tough match between two of those girls. Anastasia's a young, talented, upcoming player. She has a good serve and a big game.

"But Ana has all this experience. She's a Grand Slam champion and defending champion here. I wish them both good luck and good match. It doesn't really matter for me, because I'm going to try to concentrate on myself." (dpa)