KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Andy Roddick tried wearing his cap backward, then forward, then backward again. He muttered, shook his head and looked to the sky for help. And when he hit a rare forehand winner, he raised his arms in mock triumph.

At the finish it was Juan Ignacio Chela doing the celebrating. The gangly Argentine leaped and punched the air after beating Roddick 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 Friday in the Nasdaq-100 Open.

Chela, whose ranking has been rising since he returned last summer from a three-month suspension for using a banned steroid, moved into the third round. Roddick headed home to Boca Raton, a long ride up I-95 in rush-hour traffic.

"This year I hadn't really had one of those days where I just didn't really play well and didn't show up," Roddick said. "It was just one of those days. It's disappointing, but it happens sometimes, I guess."

Defending champion Andre Agassi, seeded ninth, won a match suspended twice because of rain, beating Greg Rusedski 6-3, 6-1. No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov and No. 7 Sebastien Grosjean also won.

Roddick, 19, had hoped to make another big splash in his back yard. Last year he arrived at Key Biscayne ranked No. 119 and upset Pete Sampras in the third round.

This year the ranking (12th), seeding (10th) and expectations were much higher for Roddick. But following a first-round bye, he struggled with his timing against Chela, sprayed 37 unforced errors and reached break point only twice.

"The court just seemed really small today," Roddick said with a rueful smile. "Nothing was really clean the whole day."

A miserable final game ended Roddick's day. Serving at 4-5, he double faulted, mishit a forehand that landed 15 feet out, double-pumped on a forehand and dumped it in the net, then sent one last forehand sailing long as Chela jumped for joy.

"I'm very happy," said the 22-year-old Argentine, who is ranked 37th. "Andy's a great player. I really wanted to beat him."

Roddick is 12-3 on hardcourts this year but has won only one match in the three biggest tournaments so far, including Key Biscayne. He retired in the second round of the Australian Open because of a sprained right ankle, and a chest cold forced him to skip Indian Wells last week.

Roddick now turns his attention to grass, the surface for the U.S. Davis Cup team's match next month against Spain in Houston. Then the clay season begins.

Said Roddick: "I'm going to be ready to rock."