Novak Djokovic ignored fans active in the crew to join Roger
Federer and Robin Soderling in the United States Open 3rd attack.A shuffle
broke between lookers on the Arthur Ashe Stadium halfway by the 1st set of
Djokovics match with Germanys Philipp Petzschner, but the third seed ignored
the distractions on his way to a 7-5 6-3 7-6 (8/6) triumph.
Second seed and five-time champion Roger Federer also
accepted no problem in advancing to the last 32, Swiss star admitting he had
enjoyed a "perfect start" to his campaign after taking just one hour
and 41 minutes to beat Germany's Andreas Beck 6-3 6-4 6-3.
Fifth seed Soderling was another easy winner, beating
American Taylor dentine straight sets, but sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko was
sent crashing out due to a sublime performance from France's Richard Gasquet.
Gasquet, who won the junior title at Flushing Meadows in
2002, claimed his first Grand Slam win of the year in the first round after
early exits in Australia
and Paris and missing Wimbledon
with a rib injury.
And the enigmatic 24-year-old acted up where he had excepted
against Germany's
Simon Greul, dropping Davydenko by the same scoreline of 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Davydenko, who missed 11 weeks of the season after breaking
his wrist in March, is the highest seed to fall in New
York so far, joining seventh seed Tomas Berdych and
ninth seed Andy Roddick in making an early exit.
A slimline Mardy Fish earlier continued his impressive form
to power into the third round. Uruguay's
Pablo Cuevas served for the opening set at 5-4 before Fish stormed back to win
15 of the next 17 games to complete a 7-5 6-0 6-2 victory.
After knee surgery at the end of September last year, Fish
hired a nutritionist to help him come back into shape, the 28-year-old American
subsequently losing more than two stone.
And his new diet has certainly fixed, with Fish winning
back-to-back tournaments first in Newport
and Atlanta and finishing runner-up
in Cincinnati where he lost to
Roger Federer in the final after beating Britain's
world number four Andy Murray and Andy Roddick.
"I really got aggressive with my training once I knew I
was able to break in long hours and not get injured or have nicks and bruises
and things like that which come up when you're probably not in your best
shape," Fish said.
"And it really got fun. It got fun to practise. It's
fun to try to outlast guys and it's fun to see when you play a match like today
and you're in the heat and you crawl back and win that first set.
"You rather look over in the changeover and see the guy
has the ice towel around his neck and he's probably not feeling that well.
That's why you put in the work."
Fish will face France's
Arnaud Clement in the last 32 after Clement's second-round opponent, Eduardo
Schwank, was forced to retire hurt from their clash.
Clement had won the first set 6-3 and the scores were level
at 5-5 in the second when Schwank decided he was unable to continue due to an
ankle injury.
Spain's
Albert Montanes also advanced to the last 32, the 21st seed enjoying an easy
6-4 6-3 6-1 win against Australia's
Carsten Ball.
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