Federer strolls into second round

US Open, Flushing Meadows
Dates: 30 August - 12 September Start time: 1600 BST
Coverage: Live text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles; updates on BBC Radio 5 live; live on Sky Sports

Federer saw his five-year unbeaten run in New York end 12 months ago

Five-time champion Roger Federer got his US Open campaign off to a smooth start as he defeated Argentina's Brian Dabul in the first round.

The Swiss eased through 6-1 6-4 6-2 in the night session to set up a second-round match against Andreas Beck.

Fifth seed Robin Soderling earlier survived a huge scare to beat Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer.

The Swede suffered a mid-match collapse before regaining his focus to win 7-5 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 5-7 6-4.

Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko saw off Michael Russell and 2003 champion Andy Roddick was also a comfortable winner.

But 32nd seed Lleyton Hewitt lost 6-3 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-1 to Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The Australian, who won the title in 2001, fought back from two sets down only for Frenchman Mathieu to dominate the decider and condemn Hewitt to a first-ever defeat in the opening round at Flushing Meadows.

Soderling is the highest-ranked player Federer could face before the semi-finals but he nearly crashed out at the hands of Haider-Maurer, a player ranked 214th in the world.

The Austrian, whose most recent tournament was a Futures event on clay in Italy, made it through qualifying to reach the main draw but looked to be heading for a swift exit.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on day one of the US Open

Yet Soderling - with only two hard court victories to his name in the build-up to Flushing Meadows - wasted four match points in the third set and he was almost made to pay.

Haider-Maurer, making his Grand Slam debut and facing a top-10 opponent for the first time, began utilising his booming serve to dominate the two-time French Open runner-up and finished with 34 aces to Soderling's eight.

But Soderling, who sent down 13 double faults, showed his experience in the fifth set to come through in three hours and 52 minutes.

There were no such problems for two-time semi-finalist Davydenko as he saw off Russell of the United States 6-4 6-1 6-3 to set up a meeting with Richard Gasquet, a straight-sets winner against Simon Greul.

Davydenko was sidelined for three months in March with a broken left wrist and since then the Russian has won back-to-back matches only once.

"I don't know if my physical condition is good for five sets. I need to see in more matches," he said. "Before my injury I felt much more confidence and much stronger.

"If you play matches you feel like top 10. I don't feel like I'm a top-10 player now at this time. When I get more matches, I can tell if I'm playing like a top-10 player."

Roddick, meanwhile, celebrated his 28th birthday with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over France's Stephane Robert and he will next meet either Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Olivier Rochus 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-0) 6-2.

"I was happy," said Roddick after his match on Arthur Ashe Stadium. "Conditions are a little tricky. The wind blows a little out there."

The American is attempting to recapture the form that saw him beat Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych en route to the Miami title in April and reach the Indian Wells final in March.

"It's just a matter of being solid and serving a high first-serve percentage," stated Roddick, who recorded a first-serve percentage of 68%. "I was playing a lot of clean tennis (earlier in the season). I have to tighten it up a little bit."

Other straight sets winners included 11st seed Marin Cilic and Juan Carlos Ferrero, the number 22 seed, while 13th seed Jurgen Melzer and 17th seed Gael Monfils both needed five sets to advance.

But a knee problem forced Fernando Gonzalez, the 27th seed, to retire against Croatia's Ivan Dodig with the match level at a set all.

Potenshöjande medel - potenshöjande medel