Roddick, Haas Book Meeting at ATP Houston

"I was a little low on energy...I wasn't expecting to play back-to-back," Rodick told reporters. "I'll be glad to have a day off tomorrow before playing Tommy on Friday."

Haas won the first four career meetings with Roddick, but the American has won the last three through 2004-05.

Other seeded winners in opening-round matches were (4) Marcos Baghdatis (d. (WC) Witten) and (7) Paul Goldstein (d. Tipsarevic), while Brazil's Marcos Daniel had the lone upset on the day with a straight-set win over (6) Luis Horna.

"I think Cypriots are everywhere," Baghdatis told reporters concerning his vocal following. "It's fun playing in front of your countrymen, your own people. It's a big responsibility. The whole country sees what I do, especially the kids so I try to have a good image for them and try not to do any bad things in life, trying to show them good examples."

Both Haas and Baghdatis returned from 2-5 set deficits Wednesday.

Doubles winners Wednesday included (1) Bryan/Bryan (d. (WC) T.Blake/Goldstein) and (WC) J.Blake/Fish (d. Horna/Monaco).

Scheduled for Thursday on the dirt are Schuettler vs. (WC) Fish, (4) Baghdatis vs. Spadea, (7) Goldstein vs. (Q) Jenkins, Daniel vs. Melzer, Vicente vs. (Q) Dupuis, and Behrend vs. Montanes.

"I'm looking forward to playing Tommy," Roddick told reporters ahead of their Friday meeting. "He's been playing great. I feel like I'm playing well, I've turned the corner and this will be a great test. He's in form and on a surface he likes. I want to play well against an elite player."