Roddick Advances, Blake Dumped in Houston

"He's in great shape," Fish told reporters of outlasting Monaco in the third-set breaker. "That's his best weapon, wearing other players down...I played him in the Australian Open last year. Beat him 9-7 in the fifth. It took 4-1/2 hours."

Roddick is now 24-2 in Houston over the last six years, winning three titles in five finals.

"I felt pretty good coming off of last weekend," Roddick told reporters. "The transition coming off grass last week to clay was pretty evident in this match but I thought if I could get through this one I'd be all right.

Other players into the second round were Germans Alexander Waske (d. Vanek 7-6 in the third) and Rainer Schuettler (d. (Q) Muller, bagel in the first), and Spaniard Fernando Vicente (d. Reynolds).

Highlights of Wednesday play on the dirt are (5) Haas vs. Waske in an all-German, (1) Bryan/Bryan vs. (WC) T.Blake/Goldstein, (4) Baghdatis vs. (WC) Witten, (1) Roddick vs. Marach, and Horna/Monaco vs (WC) J.Blake/Fish.

Gilbert Says Nadal on Coaching Wish List

In Beijing recently for a seminar as a Nike spokesperson, ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert, who coached Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the No. 1 ranking, says Rafael Nadal is on the short list of players he would like to coach.

"If possible, I hope to become Rafael Nadal's coach," said Gilbert in an article on VamosRafael.com reported by Wen Shou and translated to English. "It's undeniable that (Roger) Federer is currently the best player and no one can pose a threat to him for the time being but currently the only player who can pose a threat to him in the future is Rafael Nadal."

Gilbert said that in addition to his arsenal, Nadal's flair is good for the game.

"That strong body, and love for tight tennis pirate pants, a fashion statement," Gilbert said. "Even my wife admires Nadal, she once joked that she likes (him) so much that she wishes she can adopt him and bring him home."

It was Gilbert's fourth trip to China, his first occurring in 1992.

"I was playing an exhibition match with Michael Chang in Guang Zhou back then, I lost, but it's normal as Guangdong is Michael Chang's hometown," said Gilbert, who also came to China while coaching Agassi. "(Agassi and I) were very surprised, this Chinese city is so charming, Andre said to me that Shanghai is as prosperous as Las Vegas...tall buildings in your face and the huge ipod billboard made me feel as if I'm in New York or Chicago."

Gilbert appeared dressed in his "Raider Nation" black, and explained his personal style to the locals.

"This is my trademark, black represents my character," Gilbert said. "Tiger Woods wears red, I wear black. Not only clothes, even my shoes, caps and sunglasses are in black. Not wearing a black cap today as Nike gave me a white cap, I said this is not my style, so no cap."

Davydenko, Ferrero Dusted at ATP Valencia

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko, French Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer and defending champ Igor Andreev all made opening-round exits Tuesday as the ATP claycourt stop in Valencia lost four of its Top 5 seeds.

Czech Jan Hernych shocked last year's Roland Garros semifinalist Davydenko, while qualifiers ousted the Spaniards Ferrer (l. to Thierry Ascione, retiring with a shoulder injury) and Ferrero (l. to countryman Nicolas Almagro), and wildcard Marat Safin edged his countryman Andreev in two tightly-contested sets.

"This was a special day for me, against a great player," said Almagro of beating Ferrero from a set down. "He was No. 1 of the world and crowd favorite."

No. 6 Filippo Volandri (d. (Q) Portas 0-and-1) was the lone seeded winner, joined in the second round by un-seeded Italians Potito Starace (d. Dlouhy), Andreas Seppi (d. Ramirez Hidalgo) and David Sanguinetti (d. (LL) Gabashvili from a set down), France's Gilles Simon (d. Vik), Czech Tomas Zib (d. Pavel), and German Bjorn Phau (d. (Q) Fraile in three).

On court Wednesday in Valencia are Simon vs. Sanguinetti, Starace vs. (7) Verdasco, Hernych vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, and (Q) Ascione vs. Seppi.

Henin a Winner, Vaidisova Upset at WTA Charleston

Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-2, 6-3 Tuesday to improve her career record to 12-0 at the WTA claycort stop in Charleston.

"The first match on clay is never easy, especially a night match to start in the tournament," the 2003 and 2005 winner told reporters. "I play too far from my baseline in my first matches on clay, and I'm not aggressive enough, and you have to fight a lot to win the points, so that's not easy. You get tired very, very easily, very soon in the match because you're just out of the rhythm."

Other seeded winners Tuesday were (3) Patty Schnyder (d. (Q) Tu), (7) Dinara Safina (d. Russian countrywoman Zvonareva), (9) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Diaz-Oliva in three), (11) Katarina Srebotnik (d. Razzano), and (12) Marion Bartoli (d. Shuai).

"I was not very happy with the way I played, but I got through," Schnyder told reporters. "I'm really struggling a bit because normally here I just could place the ball anywhere I wanted and really not miss too many. So I definitely want to get that feeling back."

Orchestrating upsets on the day were Colombia's Catalina Castano (d. (5) Vaidisova), and Ukraine qualifier Julia Vakulenko (d. (10) Jankovic).

"I was up 5-1 and then nothing happened," Vaidisova told reporters. "I got out of my rhythm and it was definitely frustrating. I just couldn't keep playing well, so it's definitely not a match I will try to remember for a long time." 

The top-seeded Henin-Hardenne gets a rest Wednesday, while tournament organizers wait and see if Svetlana Kuznetsova can overcome injury to take to the court against American Meghann Shaughnessy.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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