Regions Morgan Keegan Championships Tennis

In Memphis today there are many potential winners of this tournament opening their quest for glory. 3 time champion Andy Roddick will be looking to get his season going, after recovering from the injury which sent him packing from the Australian Open, starting with a solid defence of the title he won here last year. He begins against veteran Xavier Malisse who he beat here in the semi finals of the '02 tournament and boasts a 9-0 record against the Belgian. Malisse has yet to win a match this season on the main tour and Roddick will fancy his chances of progressing. The former US Open champion had a very impressive win over Robin Haase in the Aussie Open before injury cost him against old foe Lleyton Hewitt before a very disappointing outing in Rotterdam where he struggled against Dennis Kudla before being comprehensively beaten by Denis Istomin. Roddick should put that behind him and get back on track with a tough two set win. Also in action tonight is '09 finalist and 3rd seed Radek Stepanek who has had a year filled with close matches including 5 deciding set matches and 3 tight 2 setters. He takes on the dangerous American Bobby Reynolds having beaten the 29 year old twice on American hard courts although both contests were very close.  Stepanek, with a 4-4 record this year, should have too much consistency for Reynolds who struggles with both his own service percentages and his return percentages. If the points begin to lengthen it would give Reynolds a better chance of success although Stepanek isn't afraid to compete in long rallies with his consistent groundstrokes. Stepanek should progress in this one but it will be tight and it wouldn't be the biggest upset in the world if Reynolds was to pull off the win. Finally, Milos Raonic returns to action tonight following his victory in San Jose last week where he held serve all but once during the tournament. He takes on tricky Latvian Ernests Gulbis who has the potential to beat almost anybody when he plays well. Down at 70 in the world Gulbis has since turned to Argentine legend Guillermo Canas for coaching and won the tournament in Los Angeles beating players like Fish and Del Potro along the way. He didnt have the same success in the final few months of the year with 5 consecutive first round exits. That run is unlikely to continue as he runs into one of the games brightest prospects in Raonic. The big serving Canadian has lost only to Lleyton Hewitt this year and he had to face a partisan crowd in that one. With two tournament wins under his belt already this year he comes to Memphis looking to add a third and improve on his run to the final last year. He should progress in this one but Gulbis is always a danger although the serve of Raonic should prove to hot to handle and Raonic should win in 3 tight sets.