Andy Roddick takes on France's Julien Benneteau in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters on Tuesday.
Benneteau was delighted to come through a tough opening round clash with big serving Canadian Milos Raonic on Monday afternoon. The Frenchman delighted the home fans by hitting back to win 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes.
"I could have lost that match," Benneteau said. "I would have lost it six months ago. I was impressed by his forehand, especially after his serve. However, he's not that great with his returns. He doesn't return very often. He's a lot better when he's serving than on his return games."
However Roddick will be a different proposition. It's been a tough few weeks for the American whose long-term agent Ken Meyerson died suddenly last month, news which hit him pretty hard. He looked sharp early on in Basel last week but couldn't raise his game against nemesis Roger Federer in the quarters and suffered a fairly one-sided defeat.
Roddick's best performances in Paris have been two semi-finals back in 2003 and then 2005 and he'll be looking to try and end the season on a high. Benneteau's a tricky competitor particularly on a surface this fast, with his serve-volley game but Roddick has won four of their five matches and beat him 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(5) at the US Open.
