Andy Roddick Out of China Open

1 month ago 06th Oct 12:42

Andy Roddick made s surprise exit in the first round of the China Open after a straight sets defeat at the hands of Lukasz Kubot.

The American was the third seed in the tournament behind Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic but he seemed unable to find any rhythm and Polish qualifier wasn't intimidated by his serve or his power.

There were also issues for Novak Djokovic as he struggled to get over his jet lag, despite a straight 6-3 7-5 over Victor Hanescu.

Speaking to BBC after the match he said: "That's the first round, you have to get used to the ups and downs."

"I am aware I need to raise my level of performance to get far in the tournament.

"I'll have a rest tomorrow. I'm still a bit jet-lagged, I think you could see that in the second set."

Djokovic dropped his serve early in the opening set but managed to pulled the break back before surging ahead to keep Hanescu on the back foot.

But it was a different story in the second as the set went with serve but Djokovic finally broke through to lead 6-5 before serving out the match.

Fernando Verdasco had to battle back against American Robby Ginepri to eventually win 6-7 6-1 6-2.

There were also wins for James Blake, Fernando Gonzalez as he saw off David Ferrer and Ivan Ljubicic who beat Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Top seed Rafael Nadal is currently on Centre Court in Beijing in his first match back sine the U.S. Open and it's one set a piece against Marcus Baghdatis.