Roddick crashes out
Thu, 02 Sep 02:17:00 2010

Former champion Andy Roddick made an early exit from the US Open when he was eliminated in the second round by unseeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6(4) on Arthur Ashe.

The 44th-ranked Tipsarevic, who served magnificently and powered forehand winners throughout despite having both his ankles wrapped in bandages, clinched the fourth-set tiebreaker 7-4 with a reflex volley at the net.

Roddick, who went on a petulant rant in the third set unsatisfied with a lineswoman's explanation of a foot fault called against him, entered the match with 36-9 Open record compared to a 2-6 mark at Flushing Meadows for the Serb.

"Not once in my entire career has my right foot gone ahead of my left foot," the 28-year-old American shouted at her.

"Why don't you get some umpires that know what they're doing?" he directed at the chair.

Roddick continued to ridicule the official even as he walked off at the end of the set to change his tennis shorts.

"At that point any change in energy was a good change in energy for me," admitted Roddick afterwards. "He was in a groove. He was seeing the ball big and he was taking risky cuts at the ball. They seemed to be dropping, the majority of them.

"In hindsight, did I let it go too far? Yeah, probably," he said, adding that he felt it had 'zero impact' on the match.

The 2003 champion had calmed down enough after the contest to offer praise to his opponent, who also beat him with a fourth-set tiebreaker in the second round at Wimbledon in 2008.

"The Wimbledon match wasn't at that level," Roddick, the highest-ranked American in the men's draw, said afterwards. "He played great tonight. He played very high-risk and executed for four sets. I kept telling myself this has to have an expiration date on it."

Roddick was furious when, trailing 5-2 in the third set, he was told he had faulted with his right foot, when in fact he had touched the line with his left foot.

The American, who rifled down 17 aces himself, argued at length about the foot fault explanation offered by the lineswoman, although he later confirmed he was just trying to fire himself up.

The ploy worked in the short term as he battled back from 0-40, saving three set points to hold serve for 5-3, but the big-hitting Tipsarevic was too good on the night, especially on his serve.

"That was huge," the Serb said. "In the first set, I was feeling really tired because I wasn't winning enough free points with my serve.

"But then I had a big first serve percentage and then one or two points in every game with my serve helped me with my fitness."

Tipsarevic, 26, will next meet France's Gael Monfils, who advanced past Russian Igor Andreev 6-3 6-4 6-3.

Clijsters cruises into third round at U.S. Open
Thu, 02 Sep 02:05:00 2010

Kim Clijsters took an easy step on the path to defending her U.S. Open crown by dismissing Australian teenager Sally Peers 6-2 6-1 on Wednesday on centre court at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Second-seeded Clijsters, 27, crushed 22 winners against just eight for the overmatched Peers as she raced through a 56-minute match against a 19-year-old qualifier ranked 201 and playing her first grand slam tournament.

The victory extended the Belgian's U.S. Open match-winning streak to 16. She won the won the 2005 title but missed making a defense due to injury, and then took two years off after that to start a family.

Clijsters said it took a little while to get comfortable against an unfamiliar rival, whose only previous tour-level competition came in Hobart in 2009.

"I felt as the match got going, I started playing a little better. But I still have a little way to go to play my best tennis," Clijsters told the crowd.

The Belgian said she wanted to work on moving forward and getting on the attack.

"It takes time," she said. "I'm just trying every match to grow so I'm ready when the opponents get tougher."

Clijsters, who has made it to the third round of the last 16 grand slams she has played in, will face 27th seed Czech Petra Kvitova in her next match.

Textbook start for Murray in NYC
Wed, 01 Sep 20:20:00 2010

Britain's Andy Murray made a belated start to his US Open with a straight-sets victory over Lukas Lacko and said the cramped schedule will not hamper his chances of a first Grand Slam title.

The Scot was the last of the top four seeds to play in the first round, but made up for lost time with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win in one hour 51 minutes on the third day.

Murray was delighted to get off the steamy court quickly in temperatures that topped 90 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius).

But if Murray is to win the title, he will have to win his seven matches over 12 days, compared to seven in 14 for five-times champion Roger Federer, who began his campaign on Monday.

"It's a lot easier to play the matches in 14 days, anyone would tell you that," Murray said. "I don't really know whether I like it or not."

Murray was relatively untroubled by the heat or world number 71 Lacko, fretting only once when he dropped serve early in the second set and slammed his racquet against his foot in disgust.

Otherwise, it was smooth sailing for the Scot, a runner-up to Federer in New York in 2008 and also runner-up to the Swiss maestro at the Australian Open earlier this year.

"It wasn't necessarily the best tennis," he said. "But it was tricky conditions out there. It was very windy and it was a guy I've never played against but I did enough to win in straight sets, and that was the most important thing."

Murray suffered a loss of form and motivation after his defeat in the final in Australia but said he had begun to feel good about his game again when he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July.

Last month, he beat both Rafael Nadal and Federer in Toronto to win his first title of 2010.

"I played badly after Australia but then Wimbledon gave me the confidence again," he said. "Then I came over (to the United States) and practised hard and obviously I've had a good run in the tournaments, which definitely helps."

In the second round, Murray will now play Dustin Brown, a Jamaican who may be eligible to play Davis Cup for Britain if he can prove reports he has a British grandmother.

But elsewhere Elena Baltacha's campaign came to an end when she was beaten 7-6(5) 6-3 by 27th-seeded Czech Petra Kvitova.

Baltacha, who had never won a match at Flushing Meadows before this week, was out-hit by the Wimbledon semi-finalist in scorching conditions in New York.

"She had more firepower and really started firing, especially in the second set," Baltacha said.

"Then my first serve percentage got worse. I think that was really the difference.

"I actually felt pretty comfortable. I felt I defended well but it was just the serve. I gave her too many second serves in the second set.

"By the end I really just had to scramble, just fight for every point, try to pick a corner, try and defend and hopefully she will miss. But she really did step it up."

Berdych stunned by Llodra
Wed, 01 Sep 21:07:00 2010

Czech Tomas Berdych became the first big casualty of the US Open after being outclassed 7-6 6-4 6-4 by France's Michael Llodra.

Playing on his favorite surface, the Wimbledon finalist had been expected to dominate the match against Llodra, who is better known as a doubles specialist.

But Llodra sprung a surprise by winning the tiebreak and increasingly pegged back Berdych with serve-and-volley tactics.

There was a glimmer of hope for Berdych, who had also reached the last four of the French Open earlier this year, when Llodra landed awkwardly during the fourth game of the second set.

The 30-year-old had to call a medical timeout and grimaced as he was treated by the trainer. But when play resumed, he held held serve, broke Berdych the next game and rounded off the set with ease.

A change of shirt for the third set failed to bring a change of fortunes for Berdych, who was once again broken.

Llodra fluffed his opportunity to serve out for the match, allowing nerves to get the better of him as he lost the game to love but broke the next game for a spot in the second round.

He will now play Romania's Victor Hanescu, who was also a straight sets, 6-2 6-4 6-3 winner against Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

To most tennis fans, American John Isner will be forever remembered as the man who won the longest ever tennis match at Wimbledon this year.

But the 25-year-old, who reached the second round of the US Open on Wednesday with a 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Frederico Gil of Portugal, wants to make a new name for himself.

Isner's first-round match with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon spanned three days and went down as the longest ever match at 11 hours and five minutes and 183 gruelling games.

The American did numerous television interviews when he returned to the United States after Wimbledon but said he is now determined to move on.

"That's something I will always remember and it was truly a pleasure to be on the court with Nicolas that day for a historic match," Isner said in an on-court interview.

"But I want to put it behind me. I want to do well in the big tournaments. This is my favourite tournament in the world and this is the one I want to do well in."

Isner almost did not make it to the US Open after turning his right ankle in Cincinnati Masters two weeks ago.

But the 18th seed showed no signs of discomfort as he dispatched world number 87 Gil in straight sets.

Gil was looking for his first victory in a Grand Slam event but though he matched Isner early on, once the American had won the first set, the result never looked in doubt.

"(The ankle) felt great," Isner said. "I took a four-to-six week injury and got ready in two weeks."

Not having to play his first match until Wednesday "was huge" to his hopes, said Isner, who now plays Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli, who beat American Jack Sock 6-1 6-4 1-6 6-1.

"I turned it two weeks ago so it gave me two weeks," he said. "It was a lucky break."

Azarenka collapses in heat at US Open
Wed, 01 Sep 17:15:00 2010

Victoria Azarenka has said her on-court collapse in the scorching heat at the US Open was a result of hitting her head in the gym ahead of the match.

The 10th seeded Belarusian slumped to the ground while trailing Argentina's Gisela Dulko 5-1 on the Grandstand court and was taken off court in a wheelchair and treated in hospital where she was diagnosed with a mild concussion.

"I was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head," Azarenka said in a statement.

"I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell."

The 21-year-old Belarusian, wearing a black dress in temperatures nearing 90 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), showed few signs of any medical problem as she came on court to warm-up.

But she lost her opening two service games and called the trainer as early as the third game. She received treatment to her injured arm and also complained of blurred vision.

It became increasingly clear that she was in difficulty as she took time out between every subsequent point and was ill at ease on her feet.

Then, while serving for the fourth time in the match, she collapsed on the baseline, leading to gasps from the crowd and a rush of medical staff on to the court who placed a white towel over her legs.

"I was scared," Dulko said after witnessing her opponent receiving treatment on the court before being taken away in a wheelchair as a medical official checked her pulse.

"She went to the floor - I was worried for her. I went to see her, brought her some ice, did whatever I could to help."

This is Azarenka's second retirement from a Grand Slam event. Having taken a set off Serena Williams at last year's Australian Open, she pulled out citing dizziness and illness.

Dulko now faces 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.

Ivanovic shines in win
Wed, 01 Sep 18:23:00 2010

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic took another step forward in her recent renaissance when she beat 21st seed Zheng Jie 6-3 6-0 to reach the third round of the US Open.

The Serbian, who topped the rankings just two years ago, smashed 22 winners en route to an impressive victory in just 56 minutes on a hot Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Ivanovic was beaten in the first round in New York last year but has been slowly making her way back up the rankings and was far too strong for Zheng.

Zheng had no answer to Ivanovic's power and after taking the first set, the Serb raced through the second to set up a clash with another Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano after she dispatched 13th seed Marion Bartoli 7-5 6-4.

Venus Williams kept the flag flying for American tennis's most famous family when she beat Canada's Rebecca Marino 7-6(3) 6-3 in the second round.

Marino gave the third seed a brief scare when she pushed the opening set to a tiebreak but Williams was able to raise her game in the second and wrap up a comfortable victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Williams, US Open champion in 2000 and 2001, is the highest-ranked American in the women's draw this year after her sister, world number one Serena, withdrew because of a foot injury.

Serena is following her elder sister's efforts at Flushing Meadows from afar but Venus would not reveal the feedback she has been receiving.

"That's between Serena and I," Williams said. "But she's always very positive."

The 30-year-old Williams has never gone out before the last 16 in New York but having not played any tournaments in the lead-up because of knee tendinitis, she looked a little rusty.

But after taking the first set on the tiebreak, she slowly found her game in the second set to run out a comfortable winner.

Williams said she was not allowing herself to look any further ahead than her next opponent, Luxembourg's Mandy Minella, a qualifier in her first Grand Slam event, who upset Bulgarian 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 6-0.

"I'm really just going match by match," Williams said. "I'm not thinking about dusting off any rust or where I might be.

"I thought I made a quick turnaround this summer to try to get ready (for the US Open). I'm glad that I'm just in the singles as that way I have a chance to recover between rounds."

French Open champion Francesca Schiavone eased through her all-Italian second-round encounter with a 6-2 6-1 win over Maria Elena Camerin.

The number six seed started her match confidently on the Grandstand court and needed just 65 minutes to eliminate the qualifier from Milan, who now lives in London.

While temperatures remained high, the two Italians were sheltered from the sun for most of their match by the shadows of neighbouring Louis Armstrong Stadium.

But while Camerin was able to dodge the sun, the world number 41 could not escape some attacking tennis from her countrywoman, who cleverly mixed up her all-round game.

Schiavone, who is currently without a coach, converted all five of the break point opportunities she had in the match.

She looked on course for a 6-0 win in the second set but Camerin stopped the onslaught by nervously holding serve for only the second time in the match.

That only briefly delayed the inevitable and the result means the 30-year-old Schiavone has lost just four games and spent a little over two hours on court in her two matches to date at Flushing Meadows.

Fifth seed Samantha Stosur reached the third round of the for the first time in her career when she beat fellow Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-4.

The French Open runner-up had never been beyond round two in six previous visits to Flushing Meadows but too strong for world number 62 Rodionova and won in just 64 minutes.

Stosur had been struggling with a nagging injury to her right arm before arriving in New York but looked more like her normal self as she attacked with her serve and forehand.

An early break put her ahead in the second set and though Rodionova had a break point to level at 4-4, Stosur held her advantage to set up a meeting with unseeded Sara Errani, after the Italian beat 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3.

Midnight struck early for 2009 US Open Cinderella Melanie Oudin at this year's championship as the 18-year-old American succumbed to nerves and the steady ground-strokes of Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.

Oudin, who blazed into the quarter-finals last year riding the support of the thunderous Flushing Meadows crowds, said she felt tight and did not play to potential in her 6-2 7-5 loss to the 29th seed.

"I think the nerves got the best of me today a little bit," said Oudin, who made 21 unforced errors in the first set and 38 in total.

Last year, Oudin came from nowhere to upset ranked Russians Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova but came up short against Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.

Oudin, the highest ranked American woman after Serena and Venus Williams, admitted to having trouble dealing with the heightened expectations heading into this year's US Open.

"It's tough coming back, especially after the US Open I had last year, and expecting to do that well again," she said.

"The expectations for me from the fans were extremely high. You could tell by the crowd. The second I walked out there, people expected me to win again like last year."

Nadal, Wozniacki progress
Wed, 01 Sep 05:37:00 2010

World number one Rafael Nadal made a powerful start in his determined bid to complete a career Grand Slam by winning a 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 6-3 slugfest against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili at the US Open.

Showing more power than ever in his serve and looking comfortable on the fast Arthur Ashe center court, the 24-year-old Spaniard claimed the first two tiebreaks by 7-4.

Top seed Nadal, who topped 130 mph (210 kph) on his fastest serve, registered the first service break of the match when the 93rd-ranked Gabashvili netted an easy forehand in the seventh game.

Nadal then closed out the match with another break.

"My serve tonight worked well," said the eight-times Grand Slam winner, who needs a US Open title to complete a career grand slam. "Hopefully it will continue like this.

"My serve is not my best shot but I always try hard to keep improving and that's what I'm working on all the time."

Nadal, decked out in black with electric green shoes and accents on his shirt, served up seven aces and pounded in 67 per cent of his first serves in a match that lasted nearly three hours.

"I know if I want to have chances to win here ... I need to serve really, really well, so that's one of the things I am most focused on," said Nadal, winner of five French Opens, two Wimbledons and one Australian Open.

Nadal, winner of this year's French and Wimbledon championships, will next meet Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, a straight sets 7-5 7-5 6-1 winner over Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina.

Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark made short work of American wildcard Chelsey Gullickson, breezing into the second round with a 6-1 6-1 victory to close out Tuesday's programme.

Wozniacki, who has compiled a 14-1 record since Wimbledon and won four titles this season, had a light workout against Gullickson, a University of Georgia All-American playing in her first Grand Slam.

The 20-year-old Dane, runner-up to Belgian Kim Clijsters at last year's US championship, faced three break points in the match and never lost serve in the 61-minute rout.

"I love being back here, especially playing the night session," she said, despite having to wait until nearly midnight to begin her first-round match after a series of long contests on Arthur Ashe center court.

"A win is a win," said Wozniacki, aiming for her first Grand Slam title. "It doesn't really matter what time I get on.

"It's a great feeling. I was happy to be out there. I'm happy to be through to the second round."

Wozniacki advanced to a second-round match against Chang Kai-Chen of Taiwan, a straight sets 6-2 6-4 winner over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Djokovic sneaks into second round
Tue, 31 Aug 23:47:00 2010

Serbia's Novak Djokovic caught his second wind in the nick of time to overcome Davis Cup team-mate Viktor Troicki 6-3 3-6 2-6 7-5 6-3 in the first round on a brutally hot day at the US Open.

Djokovic, who has struggled in the heat in the past, looked beaten after trailing 3-1 in the fourth set but the third seed came roaring back to avoid his first opening-round loss in a Grand Slam since the 2006 Australian Open.

The former Australian Open champion and US Open runner-up broke the big-serving Troicki, ranked 47th, in the sixth game to put the set back on serve and again in the 12th to force a fifth set which he won with relative ease.

The victory lifted Djokovic to a second-round match against Philipp Petzschner of Germany, who beat Dusan Lojda of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-1 6-1 to advance.

Marcos Baghdatis became the highest seed to fall so far at this year's US Open when he was beaten in a five-set thriller by seasoned Frenchman Arnaud Clement at a steamy Flushing Meadows.

The Cypriot 16th seed led by two sets to one and then by 3-1 in the fifth set but eventually went down 6-3 2-6 1-6 6-4 7-5 to the 32-year-old Clement, who clinched his first win since Wimbledon.

In the battle of the two former Australian Open finalists, Baghdatis recovered from a poor start to storm through the second and third sets for the loss of just three games.

But Clement snatched the fourth and then came from 3-1 down to seal victory and a meeting with Eduardo Schwank of Argentina after he beat American Robby Ginepri 6-4 7-6(3) 4-6 6-3.

American Mardy Fish avoided bowing out of the first round for the fourth time in his career with a dogged 6-0 3-6 4-6 6-0 6-1 win over Jan Hajek.

Fish continued his strong 2010 to date with a faultless first-set display in which his Czech opponent was not given a moment to settle.

He looked on course for a comfortable straight-sets victory but the number 19 seed's normally reliable serve fell apart in the next two sets as Hajek edged towards a major upset.

Fish, a first-round loser at the US Open in 2000, 2001 and 2005, had a miserable first-serve percentage of 40 percent in the third set and cut a disgruntled figure on court.

But as the shadows increasingly came over the Grandstand court, giving both players some respite from the rising temperatures, Fish managed to recapture his earlier good form.

On the resumption of play in the fourth set, his serving accuracy noticeably shot up and he immediately got the break on the opening Hajek serve to add greater spring to his step.

In contrast, Hajek's game fell apart and the 27-year-old, playing only his 12th grand slam singles encounter, managed to win a solitary game in the final two sets and twice had to be treated by the trainer for an injury to his right hand.

As a previously topsy-turvy encounter reached a one-sided finale, a lightweight Fish, who shed 30 pounds ahead of the season start after undergoing knee surgery, produced the sort of tennis that earned him back-to-back titles on American soil earlier this year.

Kuznetsova, Jankovic survive
Tue, 31 Aug 18:24:00 2010

Former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her passage into the second round with a 6-2 4-6 6-1 victory over Kimiko Date Krumm.

But the 25-year-old Russian, who won the tournament in 2004 and reached the final in 2007, was far from convincing during the one hour, 56 minute match.

Her superior groundstrokes gave her the first set but some wayward shot selection combined with some intelligent tactical play from Japan's Date Krumm saw the match go to a final set.

Both players struggled to find any sort of rhythm on serve in the decider but Kuznetsova was eventually rewarded for the more attacking approach.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia narrowly averted a first-round upset by rallying to beat unseeded Romanian teenager Simona Halep 6-4 4-6 7-5.

The 18-year-old Halep, ranked 96th in the world, was two points from registering the first major upset of the championships serving at 5-4 in the third set before Jankovic broke her serve with a forehand winner to level the set.

Jankovic, who reached the Open final two years ago but has been hampered by an ankle injury in recent months, won the next two games and ended the tussle by breaking Halep at love - the 15th service break of the match in windy conditions on Arthur Ashe centre court.

Vera Zvonareva took less than an hour to book her place in the second round with a resounding 6-2 6-1 victory over Slovakian Zuzana Kucova.

It was a marginally tighter affair than the pair's only previous encounter at the 2004 French Open in which Kucova managed to take just two games off her Russian opponent.

A focused Zvonareva, who reached the Wimbledon final in July before losing in straight sets to Serena Williams, was never troubled by a rival ranked 119th in the world.

The 25-year-old number seven seed, who celebrates her birthday on September 7, faced four break points against her in the entire match and comfortably held her nerve for every one.

In all, Kucova, whose younger sister Kristina also took part in qualifying for the US Open, won just 37 points in a match lasting 58 minutes to Zvonareva's tally of 61.

Zvonareva will next face Germany's Sabine Lisicki, who was also in blistering form as she overcame Coco Vandeweghe of the US 6-1 6-0.

China's Li Na became the highest seed to fall at this year's tournament when she suffered a shock 2-6 6-4 6-2 defeat to hard-hitting Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko.

In searing heat, the eighth seed cruised through the first set but then lost her way as world number 59 Bondarenko stormed to victory in one hour 43 minutes.

Both Li and Bondarenko reached the quarter-finals in New York in 2009 but Li looked on course for a straightforward win when she broke serve twice to winning the first set.

But Bondarenko, who has slipped down the rankings after a three-month absence with knee trouble, levelled the match and then roared through the decider to reach round two.

When Croatian Mirjana Lucic reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old, she was tipped as a future star of women's tennis.

Just four years later, she was all but gone from the tour, the victim of an abusive father and seemingly destined to go down as a footnote in the sport's history.

But the 28-year-old Lucic was all smiles after earning her first grand-slam victory in more than eight years with a 7-6(5) 6-1 first-round win over Australian Alicia Molik.

Having won three matches in qualifying to get to the main draw, her win over Molik - her first Grand Slam victory since the 2002 French Open - will lift her several places from her current ranking of 150.

Nalbandian wins opener in long-awaited grand slam return
Wed, 01 Sep 04:58:00 2010

David Nalbandian has beaten better credentialed opponents and won bigger matches but rarely has he felt as satisfied as he did after a first round win over South African qualifier Rik De Voest at the U.S. Open on Tuesday.

His grinding 7-6 3-6 6-4 6-7 6-4 victory was not his best performance but the nearly four-hour match was a remarkable demonstration of resilience after 18 months on the sick list.

The Argentine baseliner missed the last seven grand slams after undergoing hip surgery last year then suffered a series of unrelated injuries that stalled his comeback.

Despite his problems, he was picked for Argentina's Davis Cup team in July and went on to win the decisive fifth rubber in their quarter-final against Russia.

A month later, he won an ATP Tour event in August and set his sights on the U.S. Masters, where he was seeded 31st and drawn to play De Voest on one of the outside courts.

If he was hoping for an easy return to grand slam tennis, he was disappointed. He match on Tuesday lasted one minute shy of four hours but the result was proof of his will to win.

"It was good," he told Reuters. "I didn't play last year because of the injury ... I'm just so happy to be here, I just try to be do my best all the time."

Nalbandian has made the semi-finals at all four majors and was a finalist at Wimbledon in 2002 but has never won a grand slam title and has modest expectations at Flushing Meadows.

"(Physically) I feel good so far," he said. "But, first of all, I just want to enjoy every match I play."