Andy Roddick was not about to start shouting from the rooftops after the sixth seed reached the third round of the French Open for the first time since his debut appearance in 2001.

"I'm not going to sit here and jump up on a soap box like I'm really good on this stuff (clay) now because I won two matches," the American told reporters on Thursday after outgunning the Czech Republic's Ivo Minar 6-2, 6-2, 7-6.

"I think that's what you need to guard against. Today I felt pretty good, and I felt pretty in control of what I was doing.

"I have improved physically from the past times I've been here, and I think that lends itself to having some more options out there."

He matched his best effort in Paris by firing 15 aces past his clueless opponent, who has now failed to beat the American in all four of their meetings.

Minar saved the first match point by threading a backhand winner past Roddick but could only shovel a crosscourt forehand wide on the next attempt, allowing the 26-year-old to celebrate a morale-boosting victory.

But since it took him eight years to finally win back-to-back matches at the claycourt major, Roddick was not about start deluding himself about his chances of lifting the Musketeers' Cup on June 7.

"If you're asking me if I've come here thinking I can win this tournament, the honest answer would be no," said Roddick, the last American man to win a grand slam at the U.S. Open in 2003.

"Do I feel like I can make a run and then see where that takes me? Yes. I think it would be extremely presumptuous of me with my record here to come in and say I think I'm going to win this tournament.

"Right now I'm going to go match by match, and I think I have a shot to win my next match. We'll go from there."

However, things are likely to get trickier in the next round for Roddick as he will have to douse the support of a partisan crowd when he comes up against local favourite Marc Gicquel.