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Top 2 seeds Roddick and Stepanek both win.

by bahamaderek on Jan.04, 2010, under ?, Andy Roddick, Radek Stepanek

Andy Roddick’s troublesome knee was given a stern test but the big-serving American came through with flying colours in his return to the ATP tour on Monday night.

Australian Davis Cup regular Peter Luczak gave Roddick a worrying first-set scare before the top seed prevailed 7-6(5) 6-1 in his opening match at the Brisbane International.

Luczak, who has worked his way to No.77 in the rankings after an injury-hit 2009, was up 5-3 in the tense tiebreak but failed to close out the set by dropping clutch points on serve.

Roddick swiftly grabbed the opportunity given by two unforced Luczak errors and then quickly ran through the second set with his signature booming serve firing on all cylinders.

The world No.7 iced the first set with an ace, one of an amazing 15 for the match, with his weapon hitting speeds beyond 220 km/h.

Roddick finished 2009 early to rest his knee but after three months rest he moved as well as ever during his one hour and 23 minutes at Pat Rafter Arena.

Defending champion Radek Stepanek used all his smarts to work out and then work over local John Millman on Monday night to maintain his unbeaten record at the Brisbane International.

The crafty Czech took just over an hour to dispose of Millman 6-4 6-0 on Pat Rafter Arena to set up a possible second round clash with another Queenslander, Bernard Tomic.

Brisbane baseline slugger Millman was an instant crowd favourite and rose to the occasion in the opening set when he went shot for shot with the world No.12.

His first faltering step came in the eighth game as Stepanek broke to take a 5-3 lead and serve for the set.

But to Millman’s credit he immediately broke back to the delight of the parochial crowd, which regularly chanted for the 20 year old.

He was set to defy his world ranking of 307 and level at 5-all when 40-15 up on serve but consecutive double faults gave the Czech his chance.

Stepanek grabbed it with both hands to take the set and the wind went from the popular local’s sails as he lost the next seven games in his ATP tour debut.

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