Top seed Andy Roddick, watched by his new coach Jimmy Connors, unleashed nine aces in a 6-4, 6-4 win against South African Rik de Voest in the first round of the Los Angeles Open on Wednesday.
Playing his first match since announcing his tie-up with Connors on Monday, Roddick broke his opponent in the seventh game of the first set and also in the opening game of the second.
"My serve felt good," the American former world number one told reporters. "Any time you don't get broken it's a successful match. I came close (to being broken) in the last game but I managed to wriggle out of it."
Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and runner-up at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005, conceded he still had a long way to go to achieve the goals he had set for himself under the guidance of Connors.
"I'm feeling a lot better with the way I'm hitting the ball and with my level of intensity and focus on the court," the 23-year-old said.
"But I don't think I'm halfway there yet. There's still a long way to go."
Roddick has not won a title this year and dropped out of the top 10 in the rankings earlier this month for the first time since 2002.
Third seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile overcame early nerves to knock out Russian Marat Safin 6-4 6-2 in a second-round encounter at the University of California Los Angeles courts.
THIRD VICTORY
Gonzalez won three of eight break points to set up his third consecutive victory against the double grand slam champion, having also beaten him at the French Open and at Wimbledon.
"I was a little bit nervous at the start of the match because he's a very dangerous guy who hits the ball really hard," the Chilean said.
"But my serve got better and better during the match and I had to play really good tennis to beat him."
Safin, who has struggled for form this season following knee surgery, was disappointed with his performance after a promising first-round win against American Mardy Fish on Tuesday.
"I played quite well yesterday but I guess it's going to take me some time to get back from the injury," said the Russian, who has not won a singles title since last year's Australian Open.
"I'm working hard because confidence is everything in tennis. I guess I will have to play a lot of matches and a lot of tournaments to be able to play well."
In other second-round matches, American Paul Goldstein beat Russia's Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-4 and 2004 champion Tommy Haas of Germany finished in style to beat Chile's Paul Capdeville 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Four-times champion Andre Agassi, who has said he will retire after next month's U.S. Open, was scheduled to take on Swiss qualifier George Bastl later on Wednesday.
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