Jimmy Connors started off pretty convincing his new coaching career. Of course, it was pretty easy to do that, since his pupil, Andy Roddick, is clearly recovering from his poor season so far. After reaching the Indianapolis final last week - he lost to James Blake in 3 sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 - the former ATP number one seems to enjoy his hard-court season more and more. And Los Angeles seems like the best place to win his first trophy this year.

Of course, we have to admit that his first round encounter was not that difficult. He played South African Rik de Voest in the last match of the first round. And the American booked a place in the second round without major problems. He avoided forcing a convincing victory and finished the match with an identical 6-4, 6-4.

Roddick managed to regain his serving power and cruised into the second round without allowing a break from his opponent. The 23-year old broke the South African's serve 2 times and is now waiting for the next Californian clash, against fellow American Scott Oudsema.

"My serve felt good. Any time you don't get broken it's a successful match. I came close (to being broken) in the last game but I managed to wriggle out of it. I'm feeling a lot better with the way I'm hitting the ball and with my level of intensity and focus on the court. But I don't think I'm halfway there yet. There's still a long way to go", said Roddick after the game, admitting that his US Open "training" is still halfway.

In another interesting encounter of the day, this time in the tournament's 2nd round, Russian Marat Safin met Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. And the South-American had no problems in giving the Russian his 23rd loss of the season, with a convincing 6-4, 6-2. Gonzalez' next match will certainly be the highlight of the Los Angeles' 3rd round, since he's most likely to meet American Andre Agassi.