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Roddick top seed in Memphis tennis

MEMPHIS, Tennessee - Fresh off his win at San Jose,
Andy Roddick is the top seed at the Regions Morgan Keegan
Championships, a combined men's and women's event.

The 22-year-old Roddick defeated Frenchman Cyril Saulnier, 6-0,
6-4, on Sunday to earn his second straight SAP Open title and
16th career ATP Tour victory.

The American opens against Korean Hyung-Taik Lee in a
first-round match Wednesday. Last year, Roddick reached the
quarterfinals here before losing to Sweden's Thomas Enqvist.

The men's portion of the tournament began Monday morning while
the women got under way Sunday. A pair of top seeds were sent
packing as No. 2 Amy Frazier of the United States and No. 6
Alina Jidkova of Russia were upset.

On the men's side, eighth seed Max Mirnyi of Belarus held off
19-year-old American Brian Baker, 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (1-7), 7-6
(11-9), Monday. Baker was serving for the match in the third
set before coming up short.

Other winners included American Kevin Kim and Denmark's Kenneth
Carlsen.

In a night match, James Blake faces sixth seed Mardy Fish in an
all-American battle.

In the women's draw, Abigail Spears upset fifth seed and fellow
American Mashona Washington, 6-3, 7-5, Monday. Also advancing
were eighth seed Evgenia Linetskaya of Russia, American Angela
Haynes, Frenchwoman Severine Beltrame, Paraguay's Kristina
Brandi and Hana Sromova of the Czech Republic.

In night matches, fourth seed Martina Sucha of Slovakia meets
Japan's Akiko Morigami and seventh seed Nicole Vaidisova of the
Czech Republic takes on American Lindsey Lee-Waters.

Joachim Johansson of Sweden won the men's tournament last year,
but will not defend his title here after winning the Open 13
event in Marseille, France on Sunday.

Germany's Tommy Haas, who lost to Roddick in the semifinals at
the SAP Open, is the second seed, followed by American Vincent
Spadea and Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic.

Xavier Malisse of Belgium is the fifth seed, followed by Fish,
Austria's Jurgen Melzer and Mirnyi.

On the women's side, Russian Vera Zvonareva is back to defend
her title as the top seed. She faces Michaela Pastikova of the
Czech Republic in the opening round Tuesday.

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