TENNIS/US Open round-up:American Andy Roddick celebrated his 28th birthday today with a comfortable first round victory at Flushing Meadows.
Roddick, the ninth seed, dropped just seven games as he beat France’s Stephane Robert 6-3 6-2 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the scene of his sole Grand Slam triumph.
The former world number one won the US Open in 2003 but has been unable to break the dominance enjoyed by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal since, losing three Wimbledon finals to Federer — most famously 16-14 in the fifth set of an epic contest last year.
Fifth seed Robin Soderling had a far tougher time against Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer, the Swede being taken to five sets by his unknown opponent.
Soderling looked on course for an easy win when he won the first two sets, but Haider-Maurer stormed back into the contest thanks to some powerful serving.
However, Soderling delighted his small but noisy bunch of fans in the crowd by holding his nerve to win the decider and seal a 7-5 6-3 6-7 (2/7) 5-7 6-4 victory in three hours and 52 minutes.
France’s Gael Monfils also needed five sets to beat American Robert Kendrick, the 17th seed winning 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 on Court 11.
Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko had earlier begun his bid for a first Grand Slam title with an easy victory in the first round.
Davydenko beat American Michael Russell 6-4 6-1 6-3 to set up a second round clash with France’s Richard Gasquet, who enjoyed a similarly comfortable victory, beating Germany’s Simon Greul 6-3 6-4 6-2.
The 29-year-old Russian missed 11 weeks of the season after breaking his left wrist in March, since when he was won back to back matches just once, reaching the quarter-finals in Cincinnati recently before losing to Federer.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic, the 11th seed, also advanced with a 7-5 6-3 6-1 win over Illya Marchenko, while Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, the 22nd seed, thrashed Martin Klizan of Slovakia for the loss of just four games.
Kim Clijsters survived a second-set slump to begin the defence of her women’s crown with victory over Hungary’s Greta Arn.
Clijsters charged through the opening set in just 18 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium, but fell 4-0 down in the second before rallying to complete a 6-0 7-5 win.
The second seed completed a remarkable return to the sport last year after previously retiring in 2007, beating Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in the final in only her 14th match and third tournament of what she likes to call her “second career”.
“I was really looking forward to coming back here so it was nice to start off today and get the first match over with,” Clijsters said.
“I started off well and maybe she was a little nervous and looking for her game. I had a bad service game in the beginning of the second set and lost my footing a bit and I’m just glad to finish the second set off and not let it go to three sets.”
Clijsters had been suffering from an injury coming into the tournament but added: “The hip feels much better. It’s holding up really good.”
American Melanie Oudin had earlier opened proceedings on the same court with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Olga Savchuk of Ukraine.
Oudin, who reached the quarter-finals here last year as a 17-year-old, said: “It’s a real honour to get to start the US Open off on Ashe, first match. I thought it was pretty cool, I didn’t expect that.
“I knew exactly when I was going to play, knew who I was going to play, which was really good. I thought I played a really solid match. I was really nervous in the beginning, but I think I got it out in the first set. In the second set I thought I played really well.”
There were also easy victories for sixth seed Francesca Schiavone and 12th seed Elena Dementieva, French Open champion Schiavone beating Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-0 and Dementieva seeing off Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1 6-2.