US Open gallery: men's draw, day 4
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The big guns march on in the men’s draw at Flushing Meadows, as all eleven seeds in action on Thursday progressed to the third round – though Andy Roddick didn’t seal his place until the small hours of Friday morning.
The No.5 seed only took to court at 10.20pm after James Blake’s protracted encounter against Olivier Rochus bumped the schedule back on Arthur Ashe, but swept past Marc Gicquel 6-1 6-4 6-4 with another impressive display.
The 2003 champion had to stand back and admire the odd stunning winner from the Frenchman, but never looked in danger of posting anything but a straight-sets win.
“Even in the second set when he got down, he started playing a little bit more aggressively and that was certainly the case in the last game,” said Roddick. “He came back and I was getting a little nervous there but I’m glad I was able to pull it out.”
Next up for Roddick is 6’9” compatriot John Isner, who beat Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan 6-3 6-4 7-6(1).
“He’s been playing a lot better and it’s going to be a completely different match-up,” said Roddick. “I’m not going to be able to break as much as in these first couple of matches and it’s going to come down to a couple of points here and there.”
No.21 seed Blake had delayed the night session as he posted a thrilling 6-4 3-6 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Olivier Rochus that brought the crowd to its feet point after point.
“There are not many better feelings in the world,” Blake said of the atmosphere. “You showing your emotions and 15,000 people feeding off of it. It really can’t be much better.”
A single break of serve in each set was all Novak Djokovic could muster from his 16 break point opportunities against Carsten Ball, but it was enough for the No.4 seed to seal a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory against the LA-based Australian.
“It’s always hard to predict what to expect in the match against a guy who you don’t know basically,” said Djokovic, who will face American qualifier Jesse Witten for a place in the last 16.
“He was serving between 130, 140mph throughout the whole match. He was going for the serves. I knew he was going to try to be aggressive.”
Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko found the going a little easier in their straight set wins. Davydenko, a two-time semi-finalist in New York, made light work of Jan Hernych with a 6-4 6-1 6-2 victory.
Verdasco, seeded No.10, set up a third-round clash with Tommy Haas with a 6-3 6-0 6-3 win against Florent Serra.
Haas was made to grind out his victory against Robert Kendrick, converting just two of 18 break points before eventually beating the American 6-4 6-4 7-6(3).
The victory was Hass’s 30th at Flushing Meadow and the 31-year-old says that he is enjoying his tennis as his career moves into its final years.
Robin Soderling was gifted a spot in the third round when Marcel Granollers was forced to retire in the third game of their match with a back injury. He now faces No.22 seed Sam Querrey, who posted a 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4 win over Kevin Kim.
Witten’s dream US Open run continued with victory over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5 6-2.
