Roger Federer took an opening step towards a possible sixth title at the US Open as the second seed crushed Argentinian Brian Dabul 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 Monday in the first round.
Federer, winner of five of the last six editions at Flushing Meadows, saw his trophy streak broken a year ago when he lost the final to Argentinian Juan Del Potro, out of this edition as he recovers from wrist surgery.
Federer played at his lethal best to reach the second round, easily defeating the inexperienced number 96 who was making his debut at the event. Federer duplicated his backwards between-the-legs winner which he produced a year ago against Novak Djokovic.
The Swiss ended it after just over 90 minutes with his 18th ace.
“I had to give it one last push to get there. But I thought I could do it again. I’ve only hit a few in my life and two came on court at night here,” said Federer, 16-0 for his career at night matches on the Ashe showcase court.
The Swiss carried title momentum from his victory in Cincinnati a week ago into the final Grand Slam of the season, with new coach Paul Annacone watching the winning performance.
“I’ve been in six straight finals here and I’d like to do it again. I’m in form and playing well.” Robin Soderling needed nearly four hours and six match points to escape an upset attempt by Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider—Maurer, with the Swedish seed finally prevailing 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 5-7, 6-4.
Two—time Roland Garros finalist Soderling was cruising to a straight-sets win before the number 214 player mounted a fightback that severely tested the number five.
Soderling missed on four match points and double-faulted on a fifth before finally closing out the hard—fought win for his 10th New York victory.
Number six Nikolay Davydenko, who missed several months with a broken wrist, reached the second round over American Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 on a sunny opening day. American Andy Roddick, the number nine, celebrated his 28th birthday with a defeat of Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, with Roddick playing down the significance of his “veteran’s” age.
“Obviously I know I’m probably closer to the finish than I am to the start. But it’s a number. I’m barely older than I was yesterday.” Croatia’s number 11 Marin Cilic, loser in his last two matches, defeated Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. French Open semi-finalist and 13th seed Jurgen Melzer held off Russian Dmitry Tursunov over five sets 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.
Women’s defending champion Kim Clijsters rallied from 4-0 down in the second set to begin her title defence with a 6-0, 7-5 defeat of Hungarian Greta Arn.
Clijsters, the second seed who claimed the New York title in 2005 before defeating Caroline Wozniacki a year ago, spent just 18 minutes in winning the first set against her 104th-ranked opponent.
The Belgian seed won a dozen straight points in her comeback effort in the second set.
“I’m happy with the way I served. That’s obviously been a stroke that I’ve been paying a bit more attention to during my practising the past few weeks. Today I felt like I was hitting the ball well.” Third seed Venus Williams stated with a win over Italian Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1 while number five Samantha Stosur got over a slow start to defeat Russian Elena Vesnina 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.
Francesca Schiavone won only her fourth match since lifting a surprise French Open trophy nearly three months ago, as the sixth seed advanced over Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-0.
Schiavone, 30, experienced the heights of tennis joy as she claimed the Grand Slam title in Paris. But her record since that day of glory in early June has featured little to celebrate, with first-round defeats at Wimbledon, Cincinnati and New Haven.
Tenth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat Monica Niculescu 6-0, 5-7, 6-1.
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