Murray and Roddick find their feet on grass

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Champion Andy Murray and Andy Roddick whacked away the clay from their tennis shoes and began their build up to Wimbledon by beating little-known opponents on a rain-blighted day at Queen's Club on Tuesday.

Third seed Murray initially seemed taken aback at the sight of a serve-and-volleying Spaniard but once he had got over that shock he found his groove to book a place in the third round.

"Tricky play, not what you expect from a Spaniard coming forward on every point," Murray said in a courtside interview.

That win, and the feel of grass beneath him, would have come as a relief to Murray who has endured a wretched run since finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open.

Murray would also have expected Navarro, whose stocky build would not look out of place on a rugby pitch, to hug the baseline since the world number 108 hails from Alicante.

However, Navarro showed off his grasscourt skills as he attacked the net at every opportunity and with a little more experience he could have stolen the first set.

RAIN INTERRUPTIONS

"I just managed to get him in the tiebreak but it was definitely tough," said Murray, who walked into his news conference holding a large ice pack wrapped around his right knee.

"It's nice to see someone serve and volley. I haven't played a serve-and-volleyer this year so it was tricky and he did it very well."

Roddick, who like Murray took an early flight out of Paris, barely gave anyone a chance to admire Kunitsyn's game as he blew away his luckless challenger in 50 scorching minutes.

"I'm excited to be here...it's a comfortable adjustment for me," a beaming Roddick told reporters as he fiddled with his white baseball cap.

While Murray and Roddick were glad to finish their matches in one take, others had to endure a stop-start day as rain swept across west London.

Sixth seed Gael Monfils probably felt he would have been better off joining fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau in kicking around a football on the practice courts after he went down 6-3 6-7 6-2 to Germany's Rainer Schuettler.

A one-hour rain break at 6-6 in the second set offered Monfils some respite, as on resumption he won the tiebreak 7-4, but the elastic-limbed Frenchman eventually bounced out.

His compatriot Richard Gasquet avoided the same fate with a 6-3 7-5 win over American Rajeev Ram.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)