Roddick starts his season in style
DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) -- World No. 1 Andy Roddick comfortably won his first match of the season on Tuesday, beating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4 in 67 minutes at the Qatar Open.
"It was a good workout. It is always difficult to start after a break. But I would say it was a comfortable win for me," the 21-year-old U.S. Open champion said.
"The match might not have been spectacular but I did what I was supposed to do and I am happy," Roddick added.
The American will play the winner of the match between Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Czech Radek Stepanek in the second round.
Defending champion Stefan Koubek caused an upset by beating third-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis 3-6 6-1 6-4.
The Austrian showed tremendous fighting qualities to claw his way back after losing the first set to the Wimbledon finalist -- but said he almost lost the third set and the match.
"I was playing well and was on my way to victory but for some reason I lost my composure and felt very nervous," said Koubek.
" I had lost many matches like this last season and I thought I might lose this one too. Maybe it was the pressure of being the defending champion."
Earlier, Moroccan sixth seed Younes El Aynaoui, champion here in 2002, lost to French wildcard Nicolas Escude 6-3 6-0.
El Aynaoui, who conceded his doubles match with a foot injury on Monday night, was struggling throughout. "I tried my best but I just couldn't get it right today," he said.
Escude, returning to competition after injury last season, said he was very happy to have won the first match of the year.
"My goal for this year is just to be able to get on the court and play regularly," said Escude. "And to win if I can. Of course you can never tell in the first match of the year, but it went well."
It was a good day for Frenchmen as fourth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean also moved into the second round with a fluent 6-1 7-5 victory over German qualifier Markus Hantschk.
"I am quite happy with the way I played, considering that it is the first match of the season," Grosjean said.
"It was rather easy in the first set. But in the second Hantschk played better. He had nothing to lose and he was getting better and better."
