Andy Roddick extended his troubled start to the clay-court season with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Gilles Simon of France in the opening round of the Italian Open yesterday.

Simon broke Roddick’s serve in the first game of the match and quickly recovered a break by the 12th-seeded American in the opening game of the second set, then cruised from there.

While the sky was clear at the Foro Italico, gusty winds created difficult conditions.

Another American, 11th-seeded Mardy Fish, rallied to beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Gael Monfils and Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who were slated to play each other, both withdrew, citing an illness and kidney stones respectively.

Two lucky losers from qualifying, Adrian Mannarino of France and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, were playing each other instead inside the 10,500-seat centre court stadium.

In women’s action, Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat last year’s surprise champion, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4, and Greta Arn of Hungary eliminated 11th-seeded and two-time finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9).

Also, ninth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France beat Spanish qualifier Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2, 6-3; and another Spanish qualifier, Anabel Medina Garrigues, eliminated 2005 runner-up Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2.

The men’s and women’s tournaments are being played simultaneously at the Foro Italico for the first time in 33 years.

Liverpool win comfortably