Hard to believe, but Andy Roddick has never been past the third round of the French Open, and his best run was his first in 2001 when he lost in the 3rd round.

Last year, Roddick didn’t play due to an injury he sustained in Rome. He lost in the first round the previous two years.

Although most people would assume Andy’s hard-serving style would favor faster surfaces, he has developed a style that is more favorable to clay. He plays a patient game, one that is far different from the way he used to play. He’s willing to wait for his opponents to make errors. He doesn’t go for winners the way Federer does (not that anyone does that), nor even like Djokovic. He doesn’t try to dictate play.

His serve comes in handy. It allows him to win a few free points, but it also helps to set up points, and play generally aggressive without being too wild. Still, even Roddick knows that winning the French is highly unlikely. He’s hoping to see the second week of play, which means winning another two more rounds. His new coach, Larry Stefanki, is advising Roddick use the kick serve more to make his flatter serve more effective.

Today, Roddick had an easy match. He beat wildcard, Romain Jouan, a 23 year old from France, currently ranked 305 was a wildcard. It seems Jouan was a last-minute wildcard change, presumably due to injury from one of the other wildcard entrants. The score: 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Up next for Roddick is the 25 year old Czech, Ivo Minar. Minar’s highest rank is 64, but he is currently ranked 85. Roddick has beaten Minar in all 3 previous meetings, including one on clay. Their encounters were in 2008 and 2007, so the results are quite recent. They’ve always played tough matches. The last match on hard courts (Miami 2008) was won in 3 tiebreak sets.

Paul-Henri Mathieu and Jeremy Chardy, both of France, won their matches in straight sets. Robby Ginepri was the latest American to fall in the first round continuing a trend of Americans faring poorly on the red clay (especially lower ranked Americans).

Last year, Ginepri was the last American standing. He made it to the fourth round where he lost to Chilean, Fernando Gonzalez, in four sets. It was his best performance in Paris. This year, Ginepri came nowhere close to that performance. He lost in straight sets this year to Spaniard, Pablo Andujar, a 23 year old ranked 101. The score: 6-4, 7-6(7), 7-6(3).

Next up for Rafael Nadal is Teimuraz Gabashvili, the hard hitting Russian. He’s 24 years old and ranked 72. They last met in the 2nd round of Miami this year, where Nadal won 6-2, 6-2. Gabashvili goes for broke. He would have to be in a total zone for three sets to beat Nadal. He’s like Verdasco or Gonzalez, but misses a lot more. Nadal can generally beat him by running down lots of balls like he normally does, and wait for errors. Expect Nadal to win handily, but Gabashvili to make a few big shots.

For Day 3, the majority of Djokovic’s quarter has yet to play, including Djokovic himself. In his quarter, the intriguing matchups are: del Potro vs Llodra (the French generally do well at Roland Garros). Santoro vs. Rochus (Santoro is probably the oldest man playing this year), Clement vs. Tursunov (Clement is only a little younger than Santoro). The toughest early round has to be Ferrero vs. Ljubicic.

Ferrero was former world number 1 and beat Rafa last year in Rome. His ranking is now a dismal 103. Ljubicic has been playing pretty good clay court tennis lately, so he should be the strong favorite to win this. Ferrero did win a clay title this year, however, in Casablanca.

Another intriguing Day 3 match is American Bobby Reynolds against Gael Monfils. Monfils reached the semis of the French Open last year. However, much of his ranking is due to his strong performance at the French. Monfils’ performance on clay has been spotty, at best.

He only played Monte Carlo prior to the French where he lost in the opening round. Monfils’s knee injury kept him out of Rome and Madrid. Given how poorly Americans play on clay and how well the French play in Paris, Monfils should be favored. The question is how match tough Gael is. This might be a close match due to lack of play from Monfils, and whether he is fully recovered from his injury. If Monfils loses, it will likely be that he retires from the match.