Andy Roddick finally won his first match of the summer, advancing to the second round of the ATP Winston-Salem Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Local boy John Isner, seeded fourth, also won his opening match in the last event before the start of the US Open, which begins on Monday.
The Wimbledon marathon man defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in a 17-ace performance.
Top seed Roddick, who missed more than a month after an early Wimbledon exit with an abdominal muscle pull, finally got a win after losing in his only other start in the Cincinnati first round last week to Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The American, short of match play and trying to rescue a desperate year in which he fell from the top 10, managed 11 aces and never faced a break point against his French opponent.
“It’s tough coming off an injury; you tend to over-play and over-compensate,” the former world No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion said. “I’ve been trying to get my legs back during training this week.”
“I served well and tried not to give anything away. I think I did that OK tonight. You have to learn to crawl before you walk,” he said.
Third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-4, 6-4. American Ryan Harrison, twice a hard-court semi-finalist this summer, was defeated by world No. 323 Pierre-Ludovic Duclos of Canada 7-5, 7-5 after taking the place of sixth seed Kevin Anderson, who is out with food poisoning.
Fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko was far from pleased with his form even after beating American qualifier Michael Russell 6-2, 6-2.
The 30-year-old, who has slid to 39th in the world from a high of world No. 3, claimed his 21st career title last May in Munich, but had not managed to make it into the third round of a tournament since.
“It was pretty tough,” said the Russian, who committed four double faults and failed to serve an ace. “We are preparing for the US Open and it’s a nervous time.”
“I need confidence, I was just fighting for every point. I ran and my legs felt good, but I was only pushing the ball. I had too many mistakes,” he added.
Dutch 10th seed Robin Haase, a winner on clay this month in Kitzbuehel, opened his hard-court campaign at the last possible moment, but produced an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over American James Blake.
Belgian Steve Darcis mounted a second-round comeback to turn the tables on 11th seed Dmitry Tursunov 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, while Argentine seventh seed Juan Monaco beat Germany’s Tobias Kamke.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori upset Spanish second seed Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7/3), 6-2. Finn Jarkko Nieminen, 13th, beat Denis Istomin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
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