PARIS - Top seed Andy Roddick opened his Paris Masters tennis campaign with a 6-4 6-7 7-5 victory over Taylor Dent in an all-American second round match yesterday.
The battle between two of the hardest servers on the circuit was decided when Dent double-faulted on the first match point aftertwo hours 18 minutes of high-voltage tennis.
"I feel like Taylor might have actually played the better match," Roddick said.
"I didn't really take my chance, he kind of gave it to me. This is one of those where I feel fortunate to have gotten through."
World No 3 Roddick, the only top-six player in the draw after a string of high-profile casualties, will meet Slovakian 16th seed Dominik Hrbaty in the third round after he beat French lucky loser Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-3 6-3.
Both players held serve in a tight first set until Roddick broke Dent to lead 5-4 and serve for the set, which he took with a service winner after 49 minutes.
The second set was devoid of a single break point and a tiebreak was needed, which Dent won 7-2 courtesy of an unforced error from his compatriot.
Another tiebreak was looming in the deciding set when Roddick earned two match points with a sharp backhand volley.
One was all he needed with Dent showing signs of nerves at the worst possible moment.
Roddick, who has already secured a Masters Cup spot, is chasing his sixth title of the year after winning the Lyon Grand Prix on Sunday.
"It would be great to win here but I just want to keep playing well and build some momentum going into the Masters Cup," he said.
