Roddick suffers shock Qatar defeat
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Swede Bjorkman powers to a shock win over the world No. 1
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DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) -- World number one Andy Roddick suffered a surprise second-round exit at the Qatar Open, losing to Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman 6-3 6-4 in just over an hour.
U.S. Open champion Roddick comfortably won his first match of the season on Tuesday, beating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets.
But he struggled to find his rhythm against serve-and-volley specialist Bjorkman as his Australian Open preparations took a knock.
The Swede broke the 21-year-old American in the sixth game of the opening set to go 4-2 up and then held serve to clinch it 6-3.
Although the second set was more competitive, Bjorkman always held the upper hand and advanced to the net at every opportunity.
Roddick, the top seed, saved two match points in the ninth game before ninth-seeded Bjorkman served out for the match 6-4.
Roddick was the fifth of the eight top seeds to exit, with Rainer Schuettler (2), Mark Philippoussis (4), Nicolas Massu (5) and Younes El Aynaoui (6) all beaten on the first two days.
Mikhail Youzhny, the conqueror of Schuettler, was this time the victim of a surprise himself.
The 21-year-old Russian was beaten 3-6 6-2 6-3 on a breezy outside court by the smooth, rhythmical ground strokes of Sargis Sargsian, the United States-based Armenian.
Sargsian played a smart match, often setting out to contain the Youzhny ground strokes and choosing his moments to apply pressure.
He now meets seventh-seeded Tim Henman in the quarterfinals after the Briton ousted Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3 6-4.
Chela's compatriot Augustin Calleri will line-up against Bjorkman after defeating Hicham Arazi of Morocco 4-6 6-4 7-5.
Fourth-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean beat Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 6-1 6-4 and now faces Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia while South Korean Lee Hyung-taik takes on experienced Frenchman Nicolas Escude.
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