Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Defending champ and two-time runner-
up Novak Djokovic and former champion Andy Roddick were routine first-round
winners Tuesday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded Djokovic walloped Italian Paolo Lorenzi, 6-1, 6-0, 6-1
during the night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was a repeat performance
for the Serbian against Lorenzi, who was ousted in only 73 minutes.
The two players met at the same stage at the Australian Open earlier this
year, when Lorenzi won just a pair of games. Djokovic went on to win that
title, his fifth at a Grand Slam event.
The 20th-seeded Roddick, a former world No. 1, handled 21-year-old American
qualifier Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 at Ashe Stadium. The big-serving
Roddick fired 20 aces en route to the second round.
Roddick, who turns 30 Thursday, captured his lone Grand Slam title at the 2003
U.S. Open and was the 2006 runner-up in New York.
"I think the game has changed a lot," Roddick said. "You probably were able to
get two feet under you and kind of launching the ball a lot more then. I had a
massive serve at 135 mph, and this kid today was hitting them that big. I
think the game has gotten significantly better since then."
Fifth-seeded former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got past
Slovak Karol Beck 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) in an error-filled match, while sixth-
seeded Czech and former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych handled promising
Belgian David Goffin, making his U.S. Open debut, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. The French
Tsonga was a U.S. Open quarterfinalist last year.
Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez upset 10th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco, 3-6,
1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3).
Meanwhile, 11th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro held off Czech veteran Radek
Stepanek 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 15th-seeded rising Canadian Milos Raonic
launched 30 aces in going the distance to stave off game Colombian Santiago
Giraldo in five sets, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in 3 hours, 25 minutes, and
18th-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka overcame Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-7
(6-8), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-2. This marked Raonic's first-ever win in the main
draw at the U.S. Open.
Tall American Sam Querrey, seeded 27th at this fortnight, swatted 21 aces and
came from behind to beat Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in just
over three hours.
Also advancing on Day 2 were, No. 31 seed Julien Benneteau of France, Taiwan's
Jimmy Wang, Belgian Steve Darcis, Spaniard Pablo Andujar, German Philipp
Petzschner, and Russian-born American Dennis Novikov, who bested 6-foot-8 Pole
Jerzy Janowicz 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3. Novikov plays collegiate tennis at
UCLA.
The Sports Network