Number one seed Andy Roddick powered to his first title of the season with a 7-5 7-5 win over Radek Stepanek in the final of the Regions Morgan keegan Championships in Memphis.

The big-serving American fired down eight aces, one more than Stepanek, to claim his 27th career crown and the US$300,000 top prize.

The win was the second Memphis title for Roddick - the 26-year-old enjoyed success at the same venue back in 2002.

World number six Roddick, a semi-finalist or better in his four starts this year, improved to a 5-1 record against Stepanek, who was seeking his second title in as many weeks after victory in San Jose.

The American broke Stepanek in the second game of the match but the Czech fifth-seed answered by breaking back in the fifth game and holding serve to level the scores at 3-3.

Roddick broke again in the last game of the first set and after Stepanek failed to take any of his three break chances in the second set, the number one seed made him pay by winning the Czech's final service game.

Afterwards Roddick said: "I'm very satisfied and thought it was a very good level of tennis. We have a long year ahead of us and this is a nice start but there's a lot of work ahead.

"I am feeling good and I like coming here. It's nice to win again here and 2002 seems like a long time ago. I felt like I have left a couple of titles here out on the table."

He is pleased with how things are going under new coach Larry Stefanki.

"Right now I'm looking at it as a process and it's great to win a title. It's nice to get it out of the way before it becomes an issue."

Stepanek added: "I had some break chances in the second set and couldn't convert and that was the difference. His game is based around his serve and he served really well when he had to.

"We had a great match and a lot of good rallies. The only difference was break points and I couldn't convert when I had chances.

"I am happy with the start of the year but not satisfied. I hope to keep playing well the rest of the season and I will continue to work hard."