Andy Roddick scrambles to a victory

Andy Roddick has gone from dominating a few years ago to scrambling now.

But the popular U.S. player, who will be 30 in August and hasn’t posted a huge victory since he won the 2003 U.S. Open, hung on gamely Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells to defeat Lukasz Kubot of Poland after losing the first set and almost losing a tiebreaker in which he had two serves for the second set at 5-2, lost them both and had to scramble to win it, 7-5.

Roddick, seeded No. 30 here, won, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Like Roddick, Frenchman Gilles Simon, seeded 13th, had to scramble to advance. He beat Dudi Sela of Israel, 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-4. U.S. player John Isner, still glowing in the aftermath of a recent victory over Roger Federer, started slowly but carried out his 11th seeding by beating Frederico Gil of Portugal, 7-5, 6-3.

Another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, sailed through a first set but then was upended by Spain’sAlbert Ramos, 3-6. 7-5, 6-1. Gasquet was seeded 16th.