HOUSTON, Texas, 15 April 2004 — Top-seeded Andy Roddick won in straight sets but the second-seeded Mardy Fish was bounced in the first round of the $400,000 US Men’s Clay Court Championship on Tuesday.
Roddick shook off an admitted case of the blahs to record a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, improving to 15-1 at this event.
The defending champion was two days removed from leading the United States over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, where he set a record by unleashing a serve at 152 miles per hour.
Roddick, 21, found the mental energy and handled the transition from concrete to clay, winning his ninth straight match.
Fish was part of the winning American Davis Cup squad, although he lost Friday’s first singles match, putting pressure on Roddick.
His poor play continued here with a 6-3, 6-1 loss to unheralded Alex Bogomolov, dropping five straight games in the second set. He reached the quarterfinals here last year. While Fish was struggling in Davis Cup, Bogomolov reached the final of the Casabasas Challenger.
Roddick’s second-round foe will be Robert Kendrick, who outlasted France’s Sebastien De Chaunac, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).
In Tuesday’s only other match involving a seeded player, No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria breezed past Diego Veronelli of Argentina, 6-3, 6-1.
In a match involving unseeded players, American Paul Goldstein knocked off Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4.
Justine Pulls Out of Charleston, Williams Sisters Advance
In New York, world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne withdrew from the Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Tuesday.
“I’m really disappointed I have to withdraw,” Henin-Hardenne said in adding that low blood sugar was causing light headedness. Henin-Hardenne won the tournament last year, beating this year’s second seed Serena Williams in the final.
Serena was impressive in easily defeating American wild card Kelly McCain 6-1, 6-0 in the second round on Tuesday though her older sister Venus survived a scare before beating fellow American Samantha Reeves 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Martina Navratilova, who retired almost 10 years ago, but has returned to play doubles and the occasional singles game, lost 6-4, 6-4 to fellow American Amy Frazier in the first round. “I definitely improved from last week,” said Navratilova, who lost her first singles match since November 1994 in the first round at Amelia Island last week. “My forehand still goes off. I had some really good forehands and I had some really bad forehands.”
