Champion Andy Roddick struggled into the second round of the San Jose Open on Wednesday while fifth seed Jiri Novak and sixth seed Mardy Fish were knocked out.
The top seeded Roddick beat qualifier Paul Goldstein 6-3, 6-4 while Novak, who reached the final of Delray Beach last week, lost to France's Cyril Saulnier 6-2, 6-2 and Sweden's Thomas Enqvist beat Fish 7-6, 6-1.
Roddick, who lost in the Australian Open semi-finals to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, played an aggressive yet erratic match against Goldstein, making 31 winners and committing 21 unforced errors.
"I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, especially my forehand, which was the shot that essentially won me the match," Roddick said.
"I have to be aggressive. I had to enforce myself on him and not give him as many chances. That's what gave me the break in the second set."
Roddick will face South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee in the second round.
The world number three said he had put his four-set loss to Hewitt behind him.
"I'm not going to go run and hide because I'm catching some heat," Roddick said. "I'm not going to stay at home and pout."
Roddick and eighth seed Max Mirnyi complained about the new Prince balls the tournament is using.
"There is something about the size of the balls that is not making me comfortable," said Mirnyi, who beat Peter Wessels 6-7 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. "They aren't friendly."
Roddick said the balls were unpredictable and too heavy.
"They are tough," Roddick said. "They're not the greatest, but they are the same for everyone"
Xavier Malisse also advanced to the second round on Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu.
Malisse won his first title in Delray Beach last week.
