by Steve Griffiths

LONDON (AFP) - Andy Roddick began his challenge for a record fifth Queen's title with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 second round victory over Kristof Vliegen at the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event on Tuesday.

Roddick has always been at home on the grass courts of west London and the second seed was quickly back in the old routine.

The American, ranked sixth in the world, suffered only his third defeat in eight visits to Queen's when he was beaten at the semi-final stage by Rafael Nadal last year.

But he has been playing with renewed verve since acting on new coach Larry Stefanki's advice to lose weight earlier this year.

Marriage to model Brooklyn Decker seems to have put a spring in Roddick's step as well and Vliegen, a Belgian ranked 89th, was no match for the former Wimbledon finalist.

Roddick's powerful serve and bruising ground-strokes make him a formidable opponent on grass and he was soon on top, breaking Vliegen in his opening service game and taking the first set in the blink of an eye.

The 2003 US Open champion was pushed a little harder in the second set as Vliegen gradually found some composure. But Roddick was never flustered and broke in the ninth game before serving out the match with a series of aces.

"It felt good. Coming from the clay to the grass is one of the happiest days of my year just because there's not a lot of adjustments to be made to my game to suit the grass," Roddick said.

"I thought I served well and returned well at times. It was pretty solid all around."

Roddick will play Australia's Lleyton Hewitt or Portugal's Frederico Gil in the third round.

It was also a good day for Roddick's compatriots.

James Blake, seeded sixth, claimed a third round place with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory against dangerous Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

Blake, a Queen's runner-up in 2006, strolled through the first set. The second was much closer but Blake held his nerve to take the tie-break.

Sam Querrey set up an all-American tie against Blake as he brushed aside South Africa's Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-3.

Mardy Fish, the American eighth seed, showed impressive resilience as he moved into the third round by beating France's Michael Llodra 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Fish will play Feliciano Lopez next after the Spanish 10th seed defeated Denis Istomin 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).

Gael Monfils, the French fourth seed, played through the pain barrier to beat Andrey Golubev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5).

The 22-year-old looked in trouble when he needed a strapping on his left wrist after falling awkwardly in the seventh game of the second set.

But a rain delay immediately after the injury gave Monfils time to recover and, although Kazakhstan's Golubev won the second set, it was Monfils, showing tremendous grit, who reached the third round.

Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, reached the second round faster than expected after Sebastien Grosjean was forced to retire early in the second set.

Ferrero, who now plays 11th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, took the first set 6-2 and was leading 2-1 in the second when Grosjean, playing in only his second tournament since October after a shoulder injury, accepted he couldn't carry on.

Big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic buried Teimuraz Gabashvili under a barrage of aces in his 6-3, 7-6 (13/11) first round win.

At 6ft 10in, Karlovic is the tallest man on the ATP Tour and he slammed down 28 aces to batter Gabashvili into submission.

Next in the line of fire against Karlovic is France's Julien Benneteau, who defeated Daniel Koellerer 6-3, 6-4.

Spain's Alberto Martin marked his Queen's debut with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 first round victory over Ernests Gulbis, the Latvian 13th seed.

Martin, 30, will play Belgium's Steve Darcis, who beat Paul Capdeville 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.