MELBOURNE, Australia – Andy Roddick didn’t like being the fall guy again. The facts, however, were unmistakable: All the Americans were gone from the Australian Open.

Roddick lost to 19th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka on a cool Sunday night at Melbourne Park. Roddick saw 24 aces whip past him, barely got a look at a break-point chance and didn’t get his own big serve firing in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 fourth-round defeat.

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Alexandr Dolgopolov of Russia pulled off the biggest upset so far in the Australian Open men’s draw, beating No. 4 seed Robin Soderling to reach the quarterfinals. The Associated Press

Roddick, seeded eighth, had been the last American man standing in the singles field. The women were out before the third round ended; Venus Williams lasted only seven points before she hobbled off with an ailing hip muscle.

“Obviously I’m not going to sit here and … ” Roddick checked himself and then switched gears, saying the stories were already written and it didn’t really matter what he said. “Obviously (it) wasn’t the showing that we wanted, you know, but I’m doing what I can.”

Roddick’s ouster came on a day when Roger Federer equaled Jimmy Connors’ Open era mark by reaching his 27th straight quarterfinal at a major, and Francesca Schiavone won the longest women’s match in Grand Slam history — a 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova that took 4 hours, 44 minutes.

No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 6 Tomas Berdych also won in the fourth round Sunday, but French Open finalist Robin Soderling, the No. 4 seed, lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 early today against Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Among the women, No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 9 Li Na advanced, while No. 14 Maria Sharapova lost to No. 30 Andrea Petkovic. No. 2 Vera Zvonareva continued her roll toward a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Iveta Benesova today, and No. 25 Petra Kvitova rallied for a three-set win against No. 22 Flavia Pennetta.

Since Roddick’s 2003 U.S. Open victory, no American man has won a major. Venus and Serena Williams have won 10 majors between them in the interim, and 20 overall. Serena, the 2010 champion in Australia, couldn’t defend her title because of a foot injury.

“Not having the best player in the world at a major would be … be tough for any country. Obviously we want her healthy as much as possible,” Roddick said. “You know, she’s instantly the best player in the game when she comes back.”

Roddick’s career was starting in the days when Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were winding down. Since they retired, no American man has regularly kept him company in the late stages of majors.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I remember last summer when I was catching all the heat for not having an American guy in the top 10 for the first time in 15 years. Didn’t really make sense to me that I was the one taking heat when I was the only guy that had been there for the last six years.

“It’s a responsibility that has great benefits, and it’s hard sometimes as well. … For many reasons, I would love to have guys there with me all the time.”

It was only the third time since 2003 that Roddick didn’t reach at least the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park.

Former U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe told ESPN that Roddick needed to retool his game to have any chance of winning a second major, but may be reluctant to do so because it might expose him to losses to lesser players. Roddick said he wouldn’t answer that question until he spoke to his coach, Larry Stefanki.

“I’m sure he has his thoughts; I certainly have mine,” he said. “There’s certainly some work to be done. I got to figure out in kind of slower conditions how I can impose myself on some of those guys.”

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