Andy Roddick Starts Brisbane Title Defence

Andy Roddick began the defence of his Brisbane title as he saw off Marinko Matosevic in his opening match.

The American will be looking to put a difficult 2010 season behind him, which saw him struggle with mono, and he looked to be in good form as he dispatched the wild card for the loss of just five games.

Roddick is the second seed at the tournament, Robin Soderling leads the field, and he broke early in the opening set to take the advantage.

But a battling Matosevic almost got the set back on level terms as he forced the American to save a break point of his own.

Roddick snuffed out the danger and the single break was enough to see him take the opening set 6-3.

Into the second and it was one way traffic as Roddick was in full flow - opening up a 5-0 lead. Matosevic did get on the board, as well as getting one of the breaks back, but it was all in vain as Roddick wrapped up a good performance 6-3 6-2.

Speaking to the ATP after the match Roddick said: "The opening round you're looking for is one that will get you into the second round. So I was pleased with that.

"You just give yourself the chance to get better as the tournament goes on and I did that. I thought I returned pretty well. Anytime you break half your return games that’s a good thing."

Roddick will now face a tricky opponent in the second round in the form of Alexandr Dolgopolov as he saw off Igor Andreev in straight sets 6-4 6-2.

Robin Soderling also cruised into the second round as he blasted past Ryan Harrison in straight sets.

The top seed showed he was in good form at the Abu Dhabi exhibition last week as he pushed Roger Federer to three sets in the semi final.

Soderling needed just sixty five minutes to send the American packing in a 6-2 6-4 win. The Swede has just joined forces with new coach Claudio Postolesi as he looks to build on an impressive 2010, where he climbed as high as world number four.

He will now face Michael Berrer as the German came through a tough three setter with Dudi Sela. He finally saw off the Israeli1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw