Former finalist James Blake advanced to the second round after overcoming a potentially troublesome opponent in Wesley Moodie. Blake, who lost to Roddick in the 2002 Kroger St. Jude final, came through 7-6(5), 6-1 against the South African, who defeated Todd Martin in San Jose last week.

After Maria Sharapova's match with Tatiana Panova ended after just 11 minutes with Panova retiring through illness, Blake and Moodie were on court sooner than they had expected. But, as both players settled into the match, Blake took the first set tie-break, and then broke Moodie's formidable serve three times in the second set. He wrapped up the victory in 63 minutes.

"It was pretty tough," said Blake. "I don't think either of us had much confidence on our returns at that point. Obviously we went on at lot sooner than we expected after that first match went so quickly. I knew it was going to be tough because his serve was unbelievable in that first set.

"I definitely started playing better in the second set. I managed to get him out of his rhythm and staying back, which I knew wasn't his plan A. So when that happened, I was pretty happy and knew I was playing well at that point."

Repeat

The 24-year-old Blake now meets Sweden's Joachim Johansson in the second round in what will be a repeat of their second round match in San Jose, which Johansson won in straight sets.

"At least I don't need to worry about a scouting report," said Blake. "I know what he's going to bring, he knows what I'm going to bring. Hopefully this time I'll execute a little better."

Meanwhile, Nashville's Brian Baker justified his wild card by winning his first career ATP match. The 18-year-old American upset last week's Milan champion Antony Dupuis of France 6-4, 7-5 to earn a second round meeting with Jan-Michael Gambill.

Baker, who suffered from a career-threatening left knee injury in 1999, said: "I think I've overcome a big hurdle. Obviously that's the biggest win of my career so far. I came out a little tight, but loosened up a bit and played well to win. At 6-5, I was feeling pretty confident going in, but it happens to everyone, you get a little tight when things don't go your way at the beginning of the game, but I thought I served well at the end of the game, got a few easy points and was able to hold out.

"It was probably to my advantage that Dupuis may be a little tired and jetlagged, but on the other hand, he could be really confident coming out and play really well. But I think his legs were a little heavy, I took care of my business and didn't worry about it."

Form

Second seed Mardy Fish maintained the form that took him to the final in San Jose as he came back from a set down to defeat Frenchman Olivier Mutis 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour, 26 minutes. After leveling at one set all, Fish broke to lead 3-2 in the final set and held on to book his place in the second round against Canadian qualifier Frederic Niemeyer.

"It's good to get a win, that's obviously the bottom line going out there," said Fish. "I tend to not play my best tennis in the first few rounds of the tournament, I tend to work my way in. I wasn't really surprised that I didn't do that today. It wasn't my best tennis but I got through it."

With the exit of three of the top five seeds in Memphis, Fish added: "I know it's a great opportunity for me and I have to take advantage of some of those guys going out. When I was a set down, I was just saying to myself: 'Stay in the tournament,' and that was my goal there, and luckily I did that."