Andy Roddick extended his troubled start to the clay-court season with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Gilles Simon of France in the opening round of the Italian Open on Monday.
Simon broke Roddick's serve in the first game of the match and quickly recovered a break by the 12th-seeded American in the opening game of the second set, then cruised from there.
While the sky was clear at the Foro Italico, gusty winds created difficult conditions.
''He moves really well, which you don't want to see when you're short of matches, and on a day like today, where you're not getting clean hits much at all,'' Roddick said. ''As soon as we got into rallies it became a battle of not really ball striking but movement. I was coming in second most times.''
Roddick hit only nine winners to Simon's 23 and committed 27 unforced errors to his opponent's 18. The big-serving American also trailed 4-1 in aces.
Roddick also lost his opening match at last week's Madrid Open, falling in three sets to 160th-ranked Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla.
''The last couple weeks I haven't felt comfortable out here,'' Roddick said. ''I feel great physically. I feel fine, there's no excuses.''
With the French Open less than two weeks away, Roddick's last chance to hone his game will come in Nice, France, next week.
''Hopefully I can do something there,'' he said.
