SAN JOSE , California (AFP) - Hard serving American Andy Roddick a serving barrage from Chris Guccione to win 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5), in a first-round match at the 436,000 SAP Open on Wednesday.

Holder of the world's fastest serve at 249 kilometres an hour (155mph), the top-seeded Roddick almost was upstaged by the unheralded Guccione, who fired 20 aces in almost pulling off a stunning upset.

Conversely, Roddick managed just nine aces against the Aussie, a lucky loser who is 1-4 all-time against players ranked in the top 10. The 22-year-old Guccione has not beaten a top-10 player since defeating world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in January 2007 - when the Spanish southpaw withdrew in the opening set of their first-round match at Sydney.

Roddick, the world No. 6, advances to a second-round matchup against Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori, who defeated unseeded Argentine Diego Hartfield, 7-5, 6-3.

The 18-year-old Nishikori is coming off a stunning win over American James Blake in Sunday's Delray Beach final to capture his first career title.

Blake, the tournament's No. 2 seed, rebounded from that shocking defeat with 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sam Warburg in Tuesday's opening round.

Third-seeded German Tommy Haas beat American Robert Kendrick in Wednesday's night match to also move on.

In second-round play, fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win over Bobby Reynolds, and will face the winner of Wayne Odesnik and Yen-Hsun Lu.