Tokyo - Jet-lagged top seed Juan Del Potro was brought back to earth 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday as unheralded Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin bounced the US Open champion out in the first round of the Japan Open. The listless Del Potro, ranked fifth and playing for the first time since his New York Grand Slam success over Roger Federer, depressingly admitted that he was well of his game almost a month after the biggest win of his career.
"I didn't play my best tennis, anyone could see that," said the 21-year-old Argentine.
"I travelled a long way from home and didn't get here with much time to train.
"I really needed a few more days. But I'm not making excuses: he played a good match and I didn't.
"Anyone of us can lose. he took his opportunities."
Del Potro will now have almost a week to prepare for the Shanghai Masters from Monday, which will still be missing beaten US Open finalist Federer.
Del Potro was unable to break 189th-ranked qualifier Roger-Vasselin on six chances while losing his own serve twice in the 90-minute disappointment.
"I don't feel 100 per cent, but it's just from the travelling," said Del Potro, who missed out on his 50th win over the season. "I still don't really realise that I won the US Open.
"But that was in the past and I'm now looking ahead. I just want to start winning matches again."
Roger-Vasselin, playing on his third ATP-level match of the season, was pleasantly surprised by his performance.
"This is incredible, I'm very happy," said the 25-year-old. "I was nervous in the first two games, but after that I felt good.
"He didn't play his best and I thought this might be my day. I knew his game better than he knew mine. This was one of the greatest victories for me," said the son of a 2003 Roland Garros semi-finalist who beat Jimmy Connors in Paris.
French third seed Gilles Simon followed up on his Bangkok title, defeating Japanese wild card Takao Suzuki 6-3, 6-4.
Defending champion Tomas Berdych, winner in the final over Del Potro a year ago, stopped the progress of Go Soeda, ousting the Japan player 6-2, 6-4.
2001 Tokyo champion Lleyton Hewitt, seeded eighth, began with a defeat of local qualifier Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 7-5, with the 237th-ranked challenger putting up a fight in the second set.
"He got more confident as the match went on," said Australian Hewitt, who was a year ago recovering from hip surgery. "He was probably nervous in the first set, but he served a lot better in the second.
"In the end I had to dig deep to find a way to get out with a straight-sets win."
Fabrice Santoro overcame Andrey Golubev 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
