Six seeds sweep at Indianapolis

After upset losses by a pair of seeded players on day one, the status quo returned as world number five Roddick lifted his level to beat Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-0.

"I only converted on one of six break points in the first set," said Roddick. "In the second, I took my chances. I didn't serve that well, but I played clean tennis.

"He never got any easy points due to my (lack of) mistakes. I put the ball in tough positions and didn't let him rely on me making errors."

Second seed and Davis Cup mate James Blake followed the winning scenario, experiencing slightly more difficulty before subduing former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson in a flashy tiebreak ending, 7-5, 7-6 (11-9) on a third match point.

Others through to the second round: number three Russian Dmitry Tursunov, fourth seed American Mardy Fish, Croatian fifth seed Ivo Karlovic and Korean sixth seed Lee Hyung-taik, who beat teenaged Donald Young 6-2, 6-4.

Tursunov and Fish had to struggle to winning starts with Tursunov, rallying from 1-3 in the second set to break Michael Russell twice on the way to a 6-3, 7-5 decision.

It was even more dramatic for Fish, who had lost 11 of his previous 13 matches dating to February.

The crowd favourite rallied from 2-5 deficits in both the second and third sets to overhaul Vince Spadea 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 in just over two hours.

The 25-year-old with two career titles played through the pain barrier as he suffered with patella tendinitis, which he aggravated during a slip on court last week in Los Angeles.

"I came back twice and I wasn't feeling 100 per cent with the knee," said the delighted winner, who will next play Igor Kunitsyn after the Russian put out Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.

"I managed to sneak through. I just told myself to go for it when I was down in the second. It was tough to push off on my serve - but I hadn't been getting many first serves in anyway.

"I like this place so much that I didn't want to lose like this. I got on a roll when I was down and he was serving, broke him to love and won something like 12 or 13 points.

"That surely gave me momentum heading into the third."

Karlovic found himself facing Andre Sa after the Brazilian replaced German Nicolas Kiefer, still suffering with the knee injury which forced him from the Los Angeles semis last weekend.

Karlovic advanced 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3).

Tursunov showed off his intimate knowledge of US television as he compared his rally to victory over Russell in the second set as something out of the Sopranos series.

"I didn't want to go three sets against him" said the winner in one hour, 23 minutes. "Michael can stay out there six or seven sets if necessary. I knew it was important to make my stand.

"I ended up holding his head in the toilet until he drowned - so to speak... I guess I've been watching the final episode of the Sopranos a bit too much," he joked.

"I had to break back as soon as possible," said Tursunov. "I'm happy I won. As bad as my game felt today, it was more important to win." dpa/