New York - Weary Rafael Nadal held off a determined German
qualifier, requiring nearly three hours to stop Bjorn Phau 7-6 (7-4),
6-3, 7-6 (7-4) on Monday to reach the second round of the US Open.
Nadal, playing as top seed and number one at a Grand Slam for the
first time after displacing Roger Federer a week ago atop the ATP
rankings, had to swallow a double-fault while serving for victory
leading 5-4 in the third set.
He eventually won in a subsequent tiebreaker over the feisty
number 136 Phau, playing in only his second ATP main draw of the
season.
'I didn't play with normal intensity,' confessed the Spaniard, a
week after winning Olympic gold in Beijing. 'I had less than the last
few months, for sure.
'But the important this is finally to win. I know I'm playing
well. I've done it the last few months. Probably I'm a little bit
more tired, more than usual, but I think I am playing good tennis.'
It took an hour to complete the first set, with Nadal never out of
danger against the outsider.
At his sixth US Open, Nadal kept alive his streak of never having
lost in a New York first round. He won his 71st match of the season
as he overcame the 28-year-old Phau in the pair's first meeting.
The four-time French Open champion is bidding to follow Rod Laver,
Pete Sampras and Roger Federer as the fourth man to win three
consecutive Grand Slam titles in the post-1968 Open Era after winning
the French Open and Wimbledon already in 2008.
Nadal led the way for seeds on opening day at Flushing Meadows,
with fellow Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer taking out Martin
Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2.
British sixth seed Andy Murray bounced back from Olympic
disappointment with his defeat of South American journeyman Sergio
Roitman 6-3, 6-4, 6-0, despite being hit once by a serve.
'I didn't lose my serve the whole match,' said the Scot. 'He
played pretty well for, you know, about a set and a half. He was
hitting his forehand really hard and making me do a bit of running.
It was a decent test, and I came through it pretty well.'
Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian reached the second round
over Brazil's Marcos Daniel 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, while Swiss number 10 Stan
Wawrinka beat Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-3.
French number 16 Gilles Simon advanced over Spaniard Marcel
Granollers of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
In women's play, 10th seed Anna Chakvetadze was the lone upset
victim, falling to fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
There were first-round victories for third seed Svetlana
Kuznetsova, who put out China's Shuai Zhang 6-4, 6-2, and Beijing
gold medallist Elena Dementieva, a winner over Akgul Amanmuradova of
Uzbekistan 6-4, 7-5.
Former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, the number 12, stopped
Russian Galina Voskoboeva 6-2, 6-3; 14th seed Victoria Azarenka
defeated Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-2, 6-1.
Former champion Lindsay Davenport started with a win over Canadian
Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-2, then said she was still pondering her
future in the game at age 32 with a 1-year-old child.
USA
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