A-Rod eases through opener

Andy Roddick began his quest for a record fifth Queen's title with a 6-1 6-4 second round win over Kristof Vliegen on Tuesday.

Roddick cruises through against world number 89

Andy Roddick began his quest for a record fifth Queen's title with a 6-1 6-4 second round win over Kristof Vliegen on Tuesday. The world number six, seeded second in the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event, suffered only his third defeat in eight visits to Queen's when he was beaten at the semi-final stage by Rafael Nadal last year. But Roddick's powerful serve and ground strokes fired right from the off against his Belgian opponent, who was broken in his opening service game before going on to lose the set convincingly. The 2003 US Open champion was pushed a little harder in the second set as Vliegen gradually showed improved composure. Roddick never looked troubled, though, and broke in the ninth game of the second set before serving out the match in a barrage of aces. Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero reached the second round after Sebastien Grosjean was forced to retire through injury, trailing 6-2 2-1 in the match. Spain's Alberto Martin marked his Queen's debut with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 first round victory over Latvian 13th seed Ernests Gublis, meanwhile. Martin will play Belgium's Steve Darcis, who came from a set down to beat Paul Capdeville 3-6 6-3 6-4.