Andy Roddick in action against Radek Stepanek in London on Tuesday. Roddick won 6-4, 6-4. (AFP)

London: Three times former champion Andy Roddick put the dark days of clay behind him on Tuesday to record a confident and comfortable 6-4, 6-4 second-round victory over Radek Stepanek on the grass at Queen’s.

The American second seed, ignominiously defeated in the first round of the French Open two weeks ago, delighted in the speed of the slick surface, hammering down unreturnable serves at speeds of up to 148 miles an hour.

The American has lost just one match in his past four appearances at the Wimbledon warm-up event, winning three straight titles before losing to James Blake in the 2006 semi-finals.

Stepanek, no slouch himself on grass having reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon last year, tried to serve and volley but often found himself stranded at the net by some fine Roddick passes.

The Czech dropped serve in the seventh game of the first set and the ninth of the second.

Roddick’s match-winning game summed up the encounter. He won it to love with an ace, two serves that ricocheted uncontrollably off Stepanek’s racket and a volley that the Czech could barely reach.

In the second set, Roddick set up break point at 3-3 with a forehand pass, but slipped when Stepanek wrong-footed him with a volley at the net.

Roddick eventually broke at 4-4 when Stepanek made two straight backhand errors.

“That felt really good out there,” Roddick said. “Looking at the draw, there’s probably him and Ivo Karlovic as the two guys you don’t want to see in the first round.”

“This could be my favourite event,” Roddick, 24, said. “It’s easy to come back to a place where you have happy memories.”

Roddick, a former US Open champion now ranked fifth in the world, won the traditional Wimbledon warm-up tournament from 2003 to 2005. He was runner-up to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005.

Top seed Rafael Nadal, who like Roddick enjoyed a bye to the second round, had his first taste of grass, playing doubles in warm sunshine with fellow-Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

They lost 3-6, 6-7 to Jeff Coetzee and Rogier Wassen but the world No. 2 looked relaxed and moved well despite the exertions of the last fortnight and his French Open triumph.

He starts his grasscourt singles campaign on Wednesday against 18-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, whom he beat in the first round at Roland Garros. (AGENCIES)