Haas, Phau, Becker advance at San Jose

San Jose, California: Fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany needed a tiebreaker to beat American wild card Devin Britton 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the first round of the SAP Open on Tuesday.

"His serve was working really well for him; not only really hard but with good placement and I could not get a good read on it," Haas said. "Also serving and volleying on second serve and mixing it up, that really surprised me. I played good at the times I needed. The first match is always tough anyway because you never know how you're going to feel."

Eighth-seeded Jeremy Chardy's losing streak extended to six matches on tour when the Frenchman was eliminated by Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 6-1.

German Philipp Kohlschreiber, the No. 6 seed rallied to beat American Rajeev Ram 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-3, while American Michael Russell, who played in his first professional tournament two years ago when he was 15, beat lucky loser Im Kyu-tae of South Korea 7-6 (8), 6-1.

Lithuanian teenager Ricardas Berankis, the former junior No. 1, beat American Robby Ginepri 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 and Benjamin Becker of Germany topped Tim Smyczek of America 6-4, 6-2.

American Mardy Fish withdrew from his singles match because of a left knee injury, but plans to remain in the doubles draw with Sam Querry.

Fish, a two-time finalist here, had surgery on the knee in September and was able to compete in the Australian Open.

"For whatever reason the knee is not where it needs to be and not 100 percent," Fish said in a statement. "It's frustrating because I've always played well here. I want to be healthy and I've put a lot of work in to get ready."

Top-seeded Andy Roddick, who meets qualifier Ryler DeHeart in his first match Wednesday, nearly had to pull out of the tournament because of a knee injury suffered in Shanghai earlier in the year.

"It was a little touch and go for a while about playing here," the seventh-ranked Roddick said. "But I got the clearance I needed after the Australian Open. The first match will be telling. If I get through that one I should be OK. I'm going to have to work my way into this tournament."