Murray and Roddick Sent Home Early as Nadal Plays in Halle

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

By Erik Gudris

(June 13th, 2012) Transitioning from the slow red clay to the slick grass of England is always a tricky proposition even for the most experienced players. That was certainly the case today as two former champions of the Queen's Club event left the tournament even before they could get their soles covered in green.

Four-time champion Andy Roddick started off slow in his first round match against France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin but recovered after dropping the first set with some relentless net charging and when the Frenchman played a loose game at 4-5 in the second set, it allowed Roddick to even the match. But despite Roddick holding a match point against Roger-Vasselin's serve at 4-5 in the final set, an errant backhand from the American saw him blow his chance and soon after Roddick dropped serve. That allowed Roger-Vasselin to serve out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory and extend Roddick's current losing streak that stretches all the way back to Miami of this year.

“I thought I had a look there in the third set, and honestly I felt like I was going to take that thing once I turned it. Didn't work out that way,” Roddick said later. “The guy played great. I didn't hit the ball too badly. I've certainly played a lot worse this year so far.”

Another former champion in Andy Murray and this year's top seed also got off to a slow start as he took on Nicolas Mahut. It was Mahut who used his crisp all-court game to seize the first set and stayed close with Murray throughout the second set until the Scot claimed it in a tiebreak with some deft play of his own up at net. The third set went down to the wire until the final set tiebreak that saw clutch serving from Mahut give him a 6-0 lead that was too much for Murray to overcome. Mahut closed out the 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 win.

Murray admitted afterwards he needed to spend more time on grass and that he wasn't going to panic before the start of Wimbledon later this month.

No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued the wave of French success on grass with an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over another Brit Jamie Baker while Tsonga's fellow Davis Cup teammate No. 4 seed Gilles Simon fell in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 to Italy's Simone Bolelli.

Nadal Steps Onto the Grass at Halle as Berdych, Raonic Advance

Things were much more straightforward for most of the top seeds in early round action at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. No. 3 seed Tomas Berdych quickly dispatched on Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2 while No. 5 seed Milos Raonic spent even less time taking care of Chinese qualifier Ze Zhang 6-1, 6-1.

However, No. 4 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov wasn't as fortunate as he was sent home in three sets by Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

French Open Rafael Nadal made a successful transition to grass on the doubles court as he partnered with fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers as they edged out Michel Mertinak and Viktor Troicki 5-7, 6-2, 10-8.