Roddick Survives 3rd Set Breaker at Indian Wells

Andy Roddick, trying to resuscitate his psyche after his disappointing Davis Cup performance, almost took another wrong turn Saturday at the ATP Masters Series stop in Indian Wells, eking out a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2) win over unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Roddick failed to enforce his big ground game, looking out of sorts and frequently caught playing defensive tennis against the Spaniard who displayed the bigger forehand.

"That's the biggest forehand I've ever faced," Roddick said. "He absolutely kills it. It would be an amazing shot if he could find a happy medium, rather than just killing it the whole time."

The win was Roddick's first since his 1-1 win-loss D-Cup performance against Croatia.

"When you come off something really disappointing (Davis Cup), you want to come back and get involved in something really positive right away," said the No. 3-seeded Roddick, who failed to stop the hot-handed Ivan Ljubicic in the U.S.'s first-round Davis Cup loss. "Maybe it was good to have a tough match and really have to dig to get through it...I think that's the biggest thing that separates the people in the Top 10 and some of the guys 40 and 50 in the world, is that we kind of try to find a way to win even if we don't have our best stuff."

Andre Agassi, another Ljubicic victim over the Davis Cup weekend, put his disappointment behind him by ending hot-handed Aussie Wayne Arthurs' tour streak of 109 consecutive service games held with a 6-4, 6-1 pounding. It was Agassi who also ended Arthurs all-time record run of 111 consecutive service games held in 1999.

"I had to walk that fine line of being aggressive but not taking too many chances," said the No. 9 seed Agassi. "It was a bit breezy and maybe he couldn't serve as close to the lines as he wanted."

Other seeded winners were (5) Guillermo Coria (d. K.Kim in two breakers), (6) Tim Henman (d. (Q) Clement from a set down), (8) Gaston Gaudio (d. Max Mirnyi 7-6 in the third), (10) David Nalbandian (d. Argentine countryman Juan "The Principality" Monaco 2-and-1), (12) Tommy Robredo (d. (WC) Gael Monfils, dropping only four games), (17) Fernando Gonzalez (d. "Grinning" Greg Rusedski in two breakers), (21) Andrei Pavel (d. (Q) Carraz from a set down), (26) Jiri Novak (d. Olivier Rochus), (29) Nicolas Kiefer (d. Sargis Sargsian, double-bageling the Armenian), (31) Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Calleri), and (32) Jurgen Melzer (d. (Q) Goldstein in three).

"It came down to a point here or there and that's what it's been like for me against the top players this year," said Rusedski after dropping the two tiebreaks against Gonzo. "Now I just need to start winning those one or two points and I feel like I'm getting closer to doing that."

The Swedes led the upsets in veterans Thomas Enqvist (d. (18) Youzhny), and Jonas Bjorkman (d. (23) T.Johansson 7-6 in the third), with American James Blake defeating (15) Nikolay Davydenko in straights.

Un-seeds into the second round Saturday were Americans Mardy Fish (d. countryman Gambill) and Robby Ginepri (d. Acasuso), Frenchman Cyril Saulnier (d. Hanescu), D-Cup hero Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Calatrava 6-1 in the third) and Michael Llodra (d. (LL) Sanguinetti), Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (d. (Q) Lisnard), Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Luis Horna), and Czech Jan Hernych (d. (Q) Delgado).

On tap for Sunday in IW are five current or former No. 1s in Saulnier vs. (30) Dent, (1) Federer vs. Fish, (4) Safin vs. Nieminen, Robby Ginepri vs. (2) Hewitt, (16) Haas vs. Mathieu, Hernych vs. (20) Spadea, (7) Moya vs. Ferrero in a battle of Spanish former No. 1s, (Q) Zib vs. (13) Ljubicic, Fabrice Santoro vs. (11) Joachim Johansson, (19) Mario Ancic vs. Berdych, Ferrer vs. (27) Sebastien Grosjean, (28) Dominik Hrbaty vs. Llodra, Muller vs. (25) Stepanek, (24) Feliciano Lopez vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, (22) Juan Ignacio Chela vs. Rainer Schuettler, and Carlsen vs. (14) Canas.