Andy Roddick looks to revive his flagging late-season effort this week at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, joined by an equally-flagging series of Argentine seeds in Mariano Puerta and
Gaston Gaudio, Croats
Ivan Ljubicic and Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Spaniards
Tommy Robredo and Dave Ferrer, and American
Robby Ginepri.
Roddick will try and snap his three-ATP-match losing streak in the first round against French wildcard
Thierry Ascione.
First-round match-ups to watch are (7) Baby Goran vs.
James Blake, (4) Ljubicic vs. Vince "Rappin'" Spadea, Taylor "Acci-" Dent vs. Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro in an all-unseeded, (8) Ginepri vs. Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, (3) Gaudio vs. French veteran
Arnaud Clement, and (2) Puerta vs. hot-handed Belgian
Olivier Rochus.
In last year's all-unseeded singles final, Swede
Robin Soderling claimed the title with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over Xavier "X-Man" Malisse.
On court Monday in Lyon are Clement vs. (3) Gaudio, Blake vs. (7) Ancic, and Djokovic vs. Mello.
