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They're more than a thousand miles apart, but Andy Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro played remarkably similar crappy tennis in their first matches of the Asian swing, as each lost his first match since the US Open to a qualifier.

Roddick looked bizarrely punchless against #143 Lukasz Kubot, letting Kubot dictate play from the start.  Kubot jumped out to a two-break, 3-0 lead to start the first set, and never looked back.  Roddick was far too passive throughout, playing the sort of unassertive baseline tennis that got him in so much trouble circa 2007.

After disposing of his first racquet, Roddick seemed to play somewhat more dialed-in tennis in the second set. But the punch still wasn't there, and Kubot broke for the fourth and fifth times to take the match in straight sets by the score of 6-2, 6-4.

Roddick's terrible statistics tell most of the story. He ended the match with a totally uncharacteristic five aces and four double faults.  Even more surprisingly, he won only 58% of points on his first serve, and only 28% on his second serve. 

Roddick should have been plenty ready for this match, having already won a round of doubles in Beijing yesterday with partner Mark Knowles.  But he completely laid an egg today.

#189 Edouard Roger-Vasselin, a French clay courter, was the qualifier to show top-seeded del Potro the door in Tokyo.  del Potro was a finalist in Tokyo last year, but didn't come anywhere near defending those points, losing 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.

del Potro's loss is arguably less surprising than Roddick's, since he's a known slow starter in tournaments.  I watched him nearly get knocked out of the first round of Washington by Yen-Hsun Lu just a couple months ago, as he came out of the gates slow after a long layoff.

del Potro probably has been too busy partying in Argentina to do much practicing since winning the US Open, which is totally understandable.  If he doesn't right the ship by Paris, though, there could be some cause for concern.