Unseeded, James may not be a threat to win the Open. He’s playing the best tennis of his life at age 25, but he harbors no illusions that he’s in the same class as No. 1 Roger Federer, who won his first-round match against Czech newcomer Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, 1 minute earlier in the day, or the No. 2 Nadal, who could end Blake’s run in the third round.

It was a sweltering afternoon at the Open as No. 12 Tim Henman of Britain lost 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round to Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. There were touches of drama in three-time French Open champ Gustavo Kuerten’s 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over American Paul Goldstein.

Muller, a former ITF junior world champion and U.S. Open juniors winner like Roddick, cracked the top 100 last August, a week after reaching his first ATP final at Washington with an upset of Andre Agassi in the semifinals. Muller also reached a hard court final this summer at Los Angeles before falling to Agassi.

Muller described himself then as “crazy” at times when he was younger.

“I don’t know if I wanted it too much or if I didn’t know really what I wanted,” he said. “I got so upset and lost focus and lost the match because of this. Some days it went well, some days the second Muller was there and calmed me down. ... If I’m calm, I feel I can really play with these guys.”

He looked calm on this night while Roddick seemed thoroughly rattled.

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Roddick’s only other first-round defeat at the Open came in his debut as a wild card in 2000. He reached the quarterfinals the next two years, won in 2003, and went out in the quarters last year. As the winner of the U.S. Open Series leading up to the year’s final Grand Slam event, Roddick could have doubled the $1.1 million top prize if he won the title again. Instead, he goes home with chump change to pay his travel expenses.

Next up for Muller is his doubles partner, American Robby Ginepri.

“It’s kind of funny,” Muller said, “Tomorrow I’m going to play with him and Thursday I’m going to play against him.”