TENNIS US OPEN:FIVE-TIME CHAMPION Roger Federer and women's top seed Caroline Wozniacki both earned straight-set wins in their second-round matches at the US Open last night.
World number two Federer beat Germany’s Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, making 18 unforced errors, half as many as his opponent, in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the National Tennis Center in New York, where hot conditions continued for the fourth straight day. He’ll play either Paul-Henri Mathieu or Guillaume Rufin, both of France, in the third round.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic became the latest big-name casualty, the 11th seed losing in five sets to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in a match which lasted a minute short of five hours.
The second set alone lasted an hour and 17 minutes and the fourth an hour and 13 minutes as Nishikori recovered from two sets to one down to win 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.
Both players understandably struggled in the heat and Nishikori said: “I don’t know how long I played, I’m pretty tired of course. I was cramping from the second or third set, but I kept fighting and fighting and that fourth set tie-break was key for me. It was a great match. It was hot, but I am feeling great now.”
France’s Richard Gasquet produced a superb performance to send sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko crashing out.
Gasquet, who won the junior title at Flushing Meadows in 2002, claimed his first grand slam win of the year in the first round after early exits in Australia and Paris and missing Wimbledon with a rib injury.
And the enigmatic 24-year-old carried on where he had left off against Germany’s Simon Greul, dismissing Davydenko by the same scoreline of 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
A slimline Mardy Fish yesterday continued his impressive form to power into the third round.
Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas served for the opening set at 5-4 before Fish stormed back to win 15 of the next 17 games to complete a 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 victory.
After knee surgery at the end of September last year, Fish hired a nutritionist to help him get back into shape, the 28-year-old American subsequently losing more than 13kgs.
And his new diet has certainly paid off, with Fish winning back to back tournaments for the first time in Newport and Atlanta and finishing runner-up in Cincinnati where he lost to Roger Federer in the final after beating Britain’s world number four Andy Murray and Andy Roddick.
“I really got aggressive with my training once I knew I was able to put in long hours and not get injured or have nicks and bruises and things like that which come up when you’re probably not in your best shape,” Fish said.
“And it really got fun. It got fun to practice. It’s fun to try to outlast guys and it’s fun to see when you play a match like today and you’re in the heat and you crawl back and win that first set.
“You kind of look over in the changeover and see the guy has got the ice towel around his neck and he’s probably not feeling that well. That’s why you put in the work.”
Women’s top seed Wozniacki beat the heat by breezing by Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan in a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash to reach the third round.
The Dane, runner-up last year to Kim Clijsters, barely broke a sweat as she hurried off the Arthur Ashe centre court in just 47 minutes.
Wozniacki, who has a 16-1 record since Wimbledon, including titles in Copenhagen, Montreal and New Haven, has lost just two games so far after beating American wildcard Chelsey Gullickson 6-1, 6-1 in the first round.
Wozniacki will face another Taiwanese player in the third round in Chan Yung-jan, who advanced against Tamira Paszek of Austria.
American teenager Beatrice Capra gave the home crowd plenty to cheer by knocking out France’s Aravane Rezai, the 18th seed.
The 18-year-old, who is making her main tour and Grand Slam debut in New York, only secured her place in the tournament by winning an eight-woman USTA wild card play-off.
But the world number 371 held her nerve to win 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 on Grandstand Court after Rezai threatened to come back from 4-1 down in the decider.
Fellow American Melanie Oudin reached the quarter-finals as a 17-year-old here last year.
“Melanie is such an inspiration to me,” said Capra. “Last year I watched every match of hers. I played her the year before in the juniors and then there she was, making the quarter-finals of the US Open.”
Capra could now in the third round face former champion Maria Sharapova, whom Oudin also beat at the same stage 12 months ago.
“I don’t even want to think about that right now,” Capra added. “But it would be so amazing if I got to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium. I can’t believe that I just won my first two matches here.
“I’m just overwhelmed, I’m so excited. I was so nervous going out there but I had a lot of support and I think that helped me get through today.”
Meanwhile, Ireland’s James McGee reeled off two victories yesterday to nail down a quarter-final place in the ITF Men’s Futures event in Kempten, Germany – beating Australian Joel Lindner, 6-2, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/5), and French opponent Albano Olivetti, 6-2, 6-4. Today, McGee takes on unseeded German Andre Wiesler, who shocked the number four seed, Sweden’s Ervin Eleskovic, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.
Yesterday's US Open Results
Women's Singles
Second Round – P Schnyder (Swi) bt (22) MJ Martinez Sanchez (Spa) 7-6 (7-2) 6-4; Y-J Chan (Tpe) bt T Paszek (Aut) 6-3 6-3; (15) Y Wickmayer (Bel) bt J Goerges (Ger) 6-4 7-5; (7) V Zvonareva (Rus) bt S Lisicki (Ger) 6-1 7-6 (7-5); B Capra (USA) bt (18) A Rezai (Fra) 7-5 2-6 6-3; (1) C Wozniacki (Den) bt K Chen Chang (Tpe) 6-0 6-0; D Cibulkova (Svk) bt K Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-2 5-7 7-6 (9-7); (11) S Kuznetsova (Rus) bt A Sevastova (Lat) 6-2 6-3; L Dominguez Lino (Spa) bt U Radwanska (Pol) 6-2 7-5.
Men's Singles
Second Round – (21) A Montanes (Spa) bt C Ball (Aus) 6-4 6-3 6-1; (19) M Fish (USA) bt P Cuevas (Uru) 7-5 6-0 6-2; A Clement (Fra) bt E Schwank (Arg) 6-3 5-5 ret; R Gasquet (Fra) bt (6) N Davydenko (Rus) 6-3 6-4 6-2; K Nishikori (Jpn) bt (11) M Cilic (Cro) 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-1; (2) R Federer (Swi) bt A Beck (Ger) 6-3 6-4 6-3.
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