Roddick wins opener at Japan Open

Oct 1, 2008 - 3:15 PM TOKYO (Ticker) -- Fresh off his third championship of the season, Andy Roddick had a rough start at the Japan Open on Wednesday.

The second-seeded American was taken to the limit by Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic, but managed to come away with a 7-6 (13-11), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2) in second-round action at the $869,000 hardcourt event.

Roddick won his 26th career title on Sunday at the China Open and, despite receiving an opening-round bye here, the volume of matches appeared to catch up with him as Minar kept things interesting during their 2 hour, 43-minute encounter.

After a marathon first set, Roddick seemed on his way to victory as he served for the match at 6-5 in the second. The 102nd-ranked Minar, however, extended the match with one of his two breaks and won the tiebreak to force a decisive third set.

Each player held serve in the third set before the eighth-ranked Roddick, who finished with 37 aces, finally put things away in the tiebreak. Roddick will attempt to improve to 8-0 against Austria's Jurgen Melzer when the pair clash in the third round.

Defending champion and top seed David Ferrer also needed three sets to book his place in the third round, topping unseeded American Jesse Levine, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. The fifth-ranked Spaniard has endured a rough stretch of late, failing to advance past the third round in his last five tournaments.

The 26-year-old will attempt to end his recent skid and reach the quarters when he faces Japan's Takao Suzuki, who forged a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) upset of 15th-seeded Italian Simone Bolelli.

Also needing three sets to advance Wednesday were No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez - who rallied past Yen-Hsun Lu, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 - and seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Tsonga, who won his first career title in Bangkok on Sunday, overcame a slow start to secure a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over American Bobby Reynolds. The Australian Open finalist, who missed the French Open and Wimbledon following knee surgery, will face Serb Viktor Troicki next.

Gonzalez will face unseeded American Amer Delic next while No. 6 Tommy Robredo and No. 9 Tomas Berdych will contest the other third-round match in that quarter of the draw.

Fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro continued to build on his incredible run, moving through the second round with a 7-5, 6-0 thumping of Israel's Dudi Sela - the runner-up to Roddick at the China open last week.

Del Potro had never won a ATP singles title before winning four straight, beginning in July at Stuttgart. The 19-year-old, who meets No. 11 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland next, also reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.

The remaining quarter of the draw saw No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny and 12th seed Rainer Schuettler advance to set up a third-round showdown, while Kei Nishikori of Japan upset No. 16 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to book a match with No. 4 Richard Gasquet.

First prize is $135,000.