Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both took confident first steps towards an eventual third straight grand-slam final showdown in the first round of the United States Open on Wednesday.
Top seed Federer of Switzerland needed just one hour and 40 minutes to dispatch Wang Yeu-Tzuoo of Taiwan 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.
Second seed Nadal of Spain demolished former finalist Mark Philippoussis of Australia 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in just more than two hours.
Also through to the second round in early play were two former champions looking to get back to their best — 2000 winner Marat Safin of Russia and the man who succeeded him, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
Top American James Blake, the fifth seed, stirred his hometown crowd with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (9/7) win over Juan Monaco of Argentina.
And there was more Stars and Stripes flag-waving in the featured night match when Andy Roddick, watched intently by new coach Jimmy Connors, was the first through to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win over Kristian Pless of Denmark.
In the women’s event, top seed Amelie Mauresmo quickly turned the tables on Kristina Barrios of Germany, winning 6-1, 7-5 in a match held over from Tuesday because of rain, with the Frenchwoman 2-5 down in the second.
Unseeded two-times former champions Serena Williams also made it through by clobbering Spain’s Lourdes Dominiguez Lino 6-1, 6-2, and Russian diva Maria Sharapova made short work of Michaella Krajicek of The Netherlands, winning at a canter 6-3, 6-0.
The stormy weather that has dogged the US Open relented at last to allow 20-year-old Mallorca whirlwind Nadal to take centre stage with a typically swashbuckling display.
He was chomping at the bit when he finally got on to the Arthur Ashe Stadium after a 24-hour rain delay to take on Philippoussis, whose injury woes meant he needed a wildcard just to get into the main draw.
The big Melbourne player did what he could with his blistering first serve, sending down 19 aces, but Nadal had too many weapons and was imperial on his own serve.
Nadal, whose best showing in three previous US Opens was a third-round loss to James Blake last year, said that despite an upset stomach he had been delighted with his opening salvo.
”Today I played my best match in the last three weeks,” he said. ”I am trying to play a little more aggressive. I was playing like that at Wimbledon [where he reached the final]. I need to get more abrasive.”
Federer, gunning to become just the third man in the Open era after John McEnroe and Ivan lendl to win a hat-trick of titles in New York, was never troubled by an outgunned Wang.
”I thought I was always in control because I always got to break first in the set and that was always the first game of the set,” he said. ”I played aggressive and it worked out.”
He next plays Tim Henman, who easily won the battle of the British veterans in straight sets against Greg Rusedski.
Henman was philosphical about his chances. ”It’s as tough a test as you can have,” he said. ”But it depends which way you look at it: a tough draw or a great opportunity.”
Safin, who has dropped outside the world top 100 after a dreadful year of injury and loss of confidence, looked something more like his old self as he raced to a 6-1, 6-1 lead over Robin Vik of the Czech Republic.
And even though he dropped the third 3-6, he gathered his forces again and took the fourth 6-3 for a second-round clash with fourth seed David Nalbandian, who hit back from two sets down to defeat Michael Berrer of Germany.
The Russian warned, though, that all is not back in place with his game. ”I’m still far away and looking for my best game,” he lamented. ”Nobody is scared of me any more.”
Hewitt trounced Albert Montanes of Spain 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 but admitted that he was still bothered by a troublesome knee injury that has seen him drop out of the world top 10.
”It’s definitely not 100%,” he said. ”It was important just to get through today’s match and hopefully no more damage was done. We’ll see how it pulls up again tomorrow.”
Mauresmo had looked as out of sorts as the weather on Tuesday as she went 2-5 down to German wildcard Kristina Barrois in the second set after winning the first 6-1.
But she was all business on the resumption and, with Barrois helping her with a rash of mistakes, she quickly put away the five games she needed to go through.
There were wins also for rising Serb Ana Ivanovic, who survived a mid-match wobble to oust Vera Dushevina of Russia 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, and for Victoria Azarenka of Belarus who defeated Russian 11th seed Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 6-2. — Sapa-AFP