Andy Roddick's bid for a record fifth Artois Championship is underway with victory over fellow American Robby Ginepri.
Defending champion makes competitive return from shoulder injury
Andy Roddick's bid for a record fifth Artois Championship is underway with victory over fellow American Robby Ginepri.
Roddick, the defending champion and winner at Queen's Club for four of the last five years, lost the opening set on a tie-break but stormed back in style to win 6-7 6-1 6-1.
Returning to competitive action after missing the French Open with a shoulder injury, the 25-year-old served with his usual power as he won 12 of the last 14 games to reach the third round.
Roddick, seeded third for the event, is in Andy Murray's half of the draw and the pair are scheduled to meet in the quarter-finals.
He said: "I've been off for a while and Robby was very aggressive early on so it made life difficult. I found my feet in the second set and started to play very well from there.
"I feel very comfortable here, I love playing at this club and hopefully we can get another title.
"My shoulder is getting there. To play three sets healthy is really big for me and hopefully it will pull up well tomorrow."
Nadal through
Roddick was later joined in the third round by top seed Rafael Nadal, who showed the same ruthlessness towards Jonas Bjorkman as he did in thrashing Roger Federer in Sunday's French Open final.
Nadal, who beat World number one Federer in straight sets for his fourth straight title at Roland Garros at the weekend, dispatched the veteran Swede 6-2 6-2 in just 65 minutes.
"I'm very happy to be here for the third time," Nadal said. "I'm here to try my best. Right now I am playing well but it's very difficult to adapt from clay to grass."
Hewitt on form
Australian 11th seed Lleyton Hewitt is also still in sight of a record fifth Queen's title after he beat Xavier Malisse 6-3 6-2 to set up a clash with Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Playing through the pain barrier as he continues to be plagued by a hip injury, Hewitt was hardly troubled by Malisse after an early break in the opening set, with the second going a similar way.
The world number 30 is happy with his grasscourt return to so far as he bids to better Roddick, Boris Becker and John McEnroe's four Queen's titles, although 'A-Rod' is also still involved this year.
"It's always hard when you haven't played on grass for 12 months to come out straight and play well. There's no bigger difference than going from a clay court to a grass court," he said.
"So I'm fortunate that I felt like as soon as I get here on the grass, I'm always hitting the ball pretty well. And my movement's always pretty good as well, which helps."
"It was a pretty good match overall. I didn't lose my serve against a good returner out there who works the ball around extremely well."
