Djokovic’s on the march as Open hots up
WORLD No4 Novak Djokovic made light work of a predicted banana skin last night as he enjoyed an easy passage into the second round of the US Open.
The Serbian was up against former world No3 Ivan Lubicic but proved to be a class apart as he strolled past the 30-year-old Croatian 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in one hour 37 minutes.
He now faces either Argentina’s Juan Pablo Brzezicki or Carsten Ball of Australia.
Djokovic was joined in round two by seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who enjoyed an even easier passage with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 win over 18-year-old American Chase Buchanan.
Frenchman Tsonga, who has never reached the second week at Flushing Meadows, fired down 29 winners on his way to a second round clash with Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.
There was a first round shock in the offering, however, after American qualifier Jesse Witten stunned Russian 29th seed Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 for his first ATP Tour victory.
Women’s top seed Dinara Safina came through a major scare en route to the second round after dropping the opening set to unheralded Australian Olivia Rogowska.
But world No1 Safina, still awaiting her first Grand Slam title, kept her composure to seal a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 victory.
She is joined in the second round by reigning French Open champion and sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova who eased past Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-2 to set up a third round encounter with Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic dropped just three games on the way to a comfortable win over Italian Roberta Vinci but 16th seed Virginie Razzano went down 6-4, 6-3 to Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.