Roddick beats Blake in thrilling contest

Andy Roddick reversed a run of three successive defeats to fellow American James Blake with a hard fought 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 first round victory at the Memphis Championships on Wednesday.

Top-seeded Roddick had served for the match at 5-4 in the final set but Blake broke him to extend the battle, before Roddick capitalised on three errors in the tie-break to take it 7-3.

Roddick, who lost the final of the San Jose Open to Fernando Verdasco last week, utilised his powerful serve throughout and finished the match with 22 aces and converted 76 percent of his first serves.

The American, who is defending the title in Memphis, was one of the few seeded players to advance on Wednesday with third seed Radek Stepanek beaten 7-6, 7-5 by Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in the second round.

Fourth seed Tommy Haas was also upset 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 by Belgium's Xavier Malisse in a first round match.

Top seed Maria Sharapova breezed through her second round match in the women's draw with an easy 6-1, 6-1 victory over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in under an hour.