Pete Sampras opened his clay court season with a victory but was forced to battle all the way by Jan Vacek in the first round of the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston.
The fourth seed finally defeated Vacek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in front of a sell-out crowd of 4,900 at the Westside Tennis Club.
Top seeded Tommy Haas had little trouble in defeating American wild card Alex Kim 6-2 6-4 in his first-round match.
Number eight seed Jan-Michael Gambill, Taylor Dent, Bob Bryan and qualifier Kristian Capalik were all first-round American casualties.
Gambill, who was playing in this tournament for the sixth time, lost to Kristian Pless 2-6 6-2 7-5.
American James Blake, the fifth seed, did give the home fans something to cheer about _ easily defeating Ramon Delgado 6-2 6-1.
Third seed and defending champion Andy Roddick needed only 50 minutes to secure a 6-1 6-2 victory over fellow American Michael Russell.
Michael Chang finally broke a seven-match ATP losing streak with a 6-1 6-2 victory over Julian Knowle of Austria.
Martin Lee of Britain crashed out after going down 6-1 6-2 against Argentina's Mariano Puerta.