Andy Roddick and the American Men Through in Memphis

Lauren Lynch

Feb 16, 2011

Americans reigned at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis on Tuesday.

Andy Roddick, Mike Russell, Sam Querrey, Mardy Fish, Robert Kendrick and James Blake came through with flying colors. The only Americans missing out of the lineup are the No. 6 seed John Isner, who faces wild card Juan Martin Del Potro tonight, and Ryan Sweeting, who lost to Janko Tipsarevic.

In his first appearance since the Australian Open, first seed of the tournament Roddick defeated Lithuanian Richard Berankis 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 with a fairly strong first serve.

Roddick won the 2002 and 2009 tournament's title, but will face his 2010 US Open upsetter Janko Tipsarevic next.

"It was one of those days where I felt if I made a first serve the point was done," Roddick commented on his first round performance.

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"I know I didn't play well, but there are two options going into a day: one is winning and one is losing."

Russell, 33 years old and 5'8", took down 6'10'' Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 7-6(1). Russell is a qualifier in the tournament and only dropped seven points on serve to the tallest tennis player on the tour.

Karlovic has not lost his first set 6-1 since playing John Isner in Memphis in last year's quarterfinals.

Last year, Querrey took the Memphis title after beating double's buddy John Isner and is seeded fifth. On Tuesday, he underwent a long match in which he was triumphant over Denis Istomin 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4. It was his first match win, making him 1-3 so far for the 2011 season.

Facing Brian Dabul next, Querrey remained confident saying, "Last year I kind of started off similar, I lost my first three matches of the year and then kind of toughed a match in San Jose and things started to get going."

Fourth seed Mardy Fish swam through strait sets against Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 7-5, only being broken once. This is a great start for Fish, who has been battling illness that began during the Australian Open. He will play Lukas Lacko in the next round this evening.

Fish said of his win, “So that’s a good sign. Obviously the goal is to try to get to 100 percent. To be honest, I’ve felt better each day.”

American qualifier and World No. 110 Kendrick took out eighth seed Kevin Anderson 5-7, 6-3, 7-5(4). At 31 years old, his highest ranking was World no. 69 in 2009, while Anderson achieved his career high at World No. 40 recently on February 7.