Andy Roddick slips up on French clay

The French Open starts not with a bang, but with the whimper of a Sunday's play that never features any of the main attractions.

Nobody likes this half-hearted charade: not the fans, judging by the empty spaces on Court Philippe Chatrier, and certainly not the early losers, who yesterday included the former US Open champion Andy Roddick.

Everyone knows that the second week of a grand slam is where the real action starts. But when you fail even to reach the first week, that is a painful kick up the derriere, as they say in these parts. Especially when, as in Roddick's case, you have been handed a favourable draw against Nicolas Mahut, a Frenchman who had won only one of his 10 previous matches in this tournament.

As he approaches his 30th birthday, Roddick is clearly in his swansong, but he can still summon some of the old magic on a fast surface, as Roger Federer discovered in March. His problem is the red clay, which Roddick finds so alien that it might as well be the surface of Mars.

"I move horrendously out here," he said afterwards. "My first step is so bad on this stuff, I feel like I'm always shuffling or hopping or not stopping or something. These are the best tournaments in the world and you can't fake it."

Roddick did at least make it to the late afternoon of a hot and airless day in Paris. Whereas Elena Baltacha, the British No?1, had succumbed by lunchtime. Baltacha was given the honour - if that is the right word - of opening the tournament on Chatrier, but the downside is that she had to play reigning US Open champion Sam Stosur, a decent outside bet for this title.

The match took just a fraction over an hour as Stosur cranked up a serve that almost left smoking craters in the court surface. The Australian's 6-4, 6-0 win was hardly a surprise, given the two players' respective rankings of No?68 and No?6, but it does create a problem for Baltacha, who now seems unlikely to qualify for the London Olympics by right.

The chances are that the Lawn Tennis Association will recommend her for a wild card, but ultimately she will be relying on the decision of the International Tennis Federation. "Whatever fate has in store for me, I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist. I'd like to be part of it but if I don't get a shot I'll train and get myself ready for the US tournaments."

Baltacha's exit leaves four Britons standing, though it would be three but for the injury withdrawal that has allowed Laura Robson into the main draw as a "lucky loser". Robson, who lost in the final round of the qualifying tournament, will be first on Court Six this morning against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Heather Watson, Anne Keothavong and Andy Murray will all take their turns tomorrow, by which time the ennui of 'star-free Sunday' will all have been forgotten.

Murray's first-round opponent, Tatsuma Ito, is part of a group of improving Japanese tennis players that includes world No?18 Kei Nishikori (who is absent from this tournament because of a stomach strain). "Agassi was my hero," said Ito, who is 24. "He was so aggressive on his return and I try to play like that. I even got a skinhead haircut." The hair has since grown back and Ito has a cheery, boy-bandish look about him.

Although he claimed not to be nervous, this will be comfortably the highest-profile match of a career that has mostly been spent in Futures and Challengers tournaments. Ranked 68 in the world, Ito has just one previous victory over a top 50 player. "If I win, I will be famous in Japan," he said with a smile last night.