Roddick cruises into second round at U.S. Open

Aug 28, 2008 - 4:31 AM FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Andy Roddick wasted little time advancing into the second round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday.

The eighth-seeded Roddick began his quest for a second U.S. Open title when he cruised to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

Roddick, who turns 26 on Saturday, used his blistering serve to record 15 aces - including one serve which topped out at 140 miles per hour. He lost just four points on his first serve en route to dispatching his 35-year-old foe.

"I served real well tonight, and that's going to be key at this tournament," Roddick said.

Roddick also admitted that he wanted to be relentless in his attack on Santoro.

"I knew with Fabrice tonight, if you let him in, then you have a tough match," he said. "I wanted to try and bully the ball around and try and get on top of him early. I felt I did that."

Although he won this hardcourt event in 2003, Roddick has struggled in the major championships this year. The American was eliminated in the third round at the Australian Open, did not play in the French Open and suffered a second-round exit at Wimbledon.

After a great start to the 2008 campaign, Roddick endured a serious of injuries and missed various tournaments with back spasms, an inflamed shoulder and a stiff neck. Roddick - who advanced to at least the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open six of the last seven years - did not participate in the Beijing Olympics, instead playing in tournaments at Los Angeles and Washington, where he lost in the finals and quarterfinals, respectively.

Earlier in the year, Roddick defeated each of the top three players in the world (Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic) and won titles at San Jose and Dubai.

Djokovic survived a scare in his first match here, but it did not come from his opponent.

Djokovic overcame an ankle injury Wednesday afternoon to defeat Frenchman Arnaud Clement, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, in his first-round match at the year's last major

Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko also advanced to the second round courtesy of an easy 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Israel's Dudi Sela.

The third-seeded Djokovic, who lost to Roger Federer in last year's final, entered this hardcourt Grand Slam as one of the favorites to dethrone the four-time defending champion.

The 21-year-old Serb coasted through his first two sets Wednesday, mixing his powerful serve with a barrage of precise groundstrokes.

But an eerie silence fell upon Arthur Ashe Stadium in the fourth game of the third set when Djokovic hyperextended his left ankle while planting himself for a forehand shot.

The reigning Australian Open champion doubled over on his hands and knees before making his way to the sideline, where a trainer administered tape and a pain-numbing spray to his ankle.

After the match, Djokovic downplayed the injury.

"Well, it's OK. It's going to be good in two days, I'm sure," he said. "After that happened, I was thinking more of it than I was really actually feeling the pain, so it's not really a big deal. But in that certain moment, I felt big pain, so I just had to tape the ankle.

"But it's going to be all right."

Djokovic appeared slightly hobbled after the delay, as Clement drew even at 4-4. But he found his form in time to reach the second round here for the fourth time in four career attempts.

Up next for Djokovic is American Robert Kendrick, who recorded a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 triumph over Robert Nicolas Mahut of France.

Davydenko was making his first appearance in a Grand Slam since his opening-round upset at Wimbledon this past June, when he was defeated in straight sets by Benjamin Becker.

Davydenko followed up that disappointing performance with a pair of early exits at the ATP Masters Series events in Cincinnati and Toronto. He also was upset by Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round of the Beijing Olympics.

But Davydenko looked outstanding in Wednesday's early match, overcoming a sun-drenched court and his feisty Israeli opponent.

"It was very surprising," said Davydenko, who has suffered nine first-round losses in majors since 2001. "I played good for the first round, because I'm always nervous and my confidence is not so great just in the beginning of tournaments.

"But I played good all three sets (Wednesday). I was fighting good and I had very good concentration."

Davydenko converted six breaks, including three in the third set, in a match that lasted 2 hours, 3 minutes.

The world No. 5, Davydenko moved on to a second-round match with Argentina's Agustin Calleri, who defeated American Austin Krajicek in straight sets. The Russian has won all four of his previous meetings with Calleri, the world No. 49.

Other seeded winners Wednesday were No. 18 Nicolas Almagro, 19th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 26 Dmitry Tursunov, No. 28 Radek Stepanek and No. 30 Marin Cilic.

Unseeded winners Wednesday were Sam Warburg, Robby Ginepri, Carlos Moya, Victor Hanescu, Chris Guccione and Ernests Gulbis.