Roddick sent packing by Polish qualifier

Defending champion Andy Roddick became the first major casualty in the men's section of the China Open yesterday while top seed Rafael Nadal battled past Marcos Baghdatis in three sets in his opening encounter.

Third seed Roddick fell to 6-2, 6-4 to Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot, who is ranked 143 in the world, in their first-round clash.

Kubot fired his fifth ace of the match to end the reign of the American who is ranked No 6 in the world. It was simply not Roddick's day as he struggled with his serves and also his baseline play.

Down 5-2 in the first set, Roddick smashed his racquet in frustration.

"I didn't play well," said Roddick after the match. "I don't know if I was super-prepared. It shows that I was trying to stroll out there but nothing seemed to be working too well."

Roddick is currently sixth in the race to the ATP World Tour Finals in London and has not qualified for the event.

"I missed an opportunity here this week. You certainly want to get confirmed into that tournament sooner rather than later," said Roddick, who will now travel to Shanghai for the ATP 1000 event.

Meanwhile, world No 2 Nadal returned from an injury layoff to win his opening match against former China Open champion Baghdatis 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

"My body today is OK. I hope it will be OK tomorrow and the day after tomorrow," Nadal, who had an abdominal strain, said.

The Spaniard awed the spectators with his hard ground strokes and amazing angles. He claimed the first set but the Cypriot, who won the Open in 2006, bounced back to take the second.

At 4-4 in the third, the left-handed Spaniard pounced, breaking Baghdatis and then serving out the match when the Cypriot's final stroke landed in the net.

"I didn't play my best tennis but in the last four games (of the third set) I did much better the victory is very important for me. We are here to play with the top 45 in the world so every match is going to be very difficult. For me, it's very good to be back on court," Nadal said.

He praised Baghdatis, a former Australian Open finalist who has fallen to No 90 in the world rankings from a career-high of No 8. "Marcos served really well at important moments," he said. "I am happy to see him back here."

In other matches, seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile served 13 aces to progress with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Spain's David Ferrer and will meet Russia's Marat Safin in the second round.

American James Blake beat German qualifier Florian Mayer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Fifth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain came back from a set down to win his first-round match over American Robby Ginepri, 7-6 (7), 6-1, 6-2.

(China Daily 10/07/2009 page12)