Roddick makes short work of Rusedski in Rome

Andy Roddick made a winning start to his European claycourt campaign yesterday, cruising into the second round of the Rome Masters with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Britain's Greg Rusedski.

American Roddick took over as top seed following the withdrawal at the weekend of world number one Roger Federer because of a foot injury.

It was one-way traffic from the start as Rusedski saved three break points in a tense opening game that lasted 11 minutes.

Roddick gained the decisive break in the ninth game when he drew his opponent into the net before whipping over a crosscourt forehand that Rusedski could only dump into the net.

The left-handed Briton's chances of clawing his way back nosedived when he netted a routine volley to surrender serve in the opening game of the second set.

Roddick broke again in the third game before holding serve to set up a match with former French Open champion Albert Costa who beat Spanish qualifier Albert Montanes 6-4 6-4.

"Obviously, over the past couple of years I haven't played my best tennis here," said Roddick, who was beaten in the first round last year.

"Having said that I've had some good results on clay and beaten some good players. There's a long way to go (before the final) but then I'd say that about the second round of any tournament," he told reporters.

Other results: Agassi bt Di Mauro 7-5 6-2; Verdasco bt Davydenko 6-3 7-5; Hrbaty bt Mello 6-4 6-3; Henman bt Kuerten 6-3 6-3.

 Former French Open champion Mary Pierce comfortably beat Anna Chakvetadze 6-4 6-3 to reach the second round of the German Open yesterday. The 30-year-old Frenchwoman, ranked 27th in the world, broke serve early in the first set at the Steffi Graf stadium and looked confident throughout the second against the Russian teenager.