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| Andy Roddick returns a shot to Michel Kratochvil in the first set of their second-round match at the RCA Tennis Championships© Elsa/Getty Images |
INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Swiss qualifier Michel Kratochvil and rain prevented American Andy Roddick from advancing to the third round of the $600,000 RCA Championships on Wednesday.
Roddick, the top seed and defending champion, held a 6-4, 2-5 lead over Kratochvil when play was suspended due to heavy rains at the US Open warm-up hardcourt event. The eighth game of the second set was at deuce on Roddick's serve when play was called.
The match will be completed Thursday afternoon. The winner is slated to face No. 15 American Robby Ginepri -- a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Frenchman Sebastien de Chaunac -- on Thursday night.
Earlier Wednesday, fifth-seeded American Mardy Fish failed to take advantage of an open quarter of the draw, falling to unseeded Gregory Carraz of France, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), in their second-round encounter.
There were no other seeds remaining in that part of the draw after ninth-seeded American Taylor Dent withdrew with gastroenteritis and No. 13 Max Mirnyi and No. 17 Thomas Enqvist also lost Wednesday. Mirnyi was felled by Karol Beck of Slovakia, 6-4, 7-6 (5), while Enqvist was edged by Israeli qualifier Noam Okun, 7-6 (7), 2-6, 7-6 (5).
Other seeded players losing Wednesday were No. 7 Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands and No. 16 Robin Soderling of Sweden. Schalken was forced to retire due to heat-related problems while trailing Czech Jan Hernych, 7-5, 1-0. Soderling was routed by American lucky loser Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-2, 6-2.
Third seed Sebastien Grosjean rallied to defeat French compatriot Julien Jeanpierre, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-2, and reach the third round.
Other seeded winners included No. 11 Joachim Johansson, No. 12 Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and No. 14 Xavier Malisse of Belgium. The top 16 seeds received byes into the second round.