Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal impressed with straight-set victories in the US Open overnight.
Federer, the world No 1, advanced to the third round of the US Open by defeating Simon Greul 6-3, 7-5, 7-5. The Swiss, seeking his sixth consecutive US Open title, will next face Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Nadal made a strong start to his bid to win the tournament for the first time with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Richard Gasquet. The third-seeded Spaniard hit seven aces and made only ten unforced errors to win in one hour, 41 minutes, booking a second-round match against Nicolas Kiefer.
Federer held off a game challenge from Greul as the world No 65 forced the top seed to play some top-drawer tennis earlier in the tournament than he is accustomed to.
“It’s never easy, the first night session of the year here in New York and I saw him play a couple of times and he played really, really well so I knew it would be difficult,” Federer said. “The level was really high, there was great intensity but it’s good to be back and it’s great to win again.”
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Attempting to emulate Bill Tilden, who won the title six times consecutively in the 1920s, Federer had looked set for a quick outing at Arthur Ashe Stadium as he took a 5-2 lead in the opening set. Yet Greul had other ideas and serving to save the set the German drew two errors out of the world No 1, an uncharacteristic overhead into the net and then a wild mis-hit, to give the underdog advantage on the way to a morale-boosting save.
Federer was all business again on serve, racing to 40-0 only to concede his first double fault of the match, a temporary blip as the set was claimed on the next point.
Greul was capable of some class himself and it began to show in the second set as some deft touches at the net earned two break points at 2-1 up, his first of the match. But whenever he threw down the gauntlet, Federer raised the bar higher, and he responded with an unreturnable serve and then sent an ace down the middle to get to deuce from where he saved service to draw level in the set. At 5-4 up, Federer even had to serve to save a set point earned by Greul after a brilliant cross-court forehand winner. Again, it brought out the best in Federer, flat-footing the German with a neat drop shot to get the game to deuce.
Greul hit back again and this time Federer saved set point with a 131 mph ace down the middle before holding the game at 5-5. Federer stepped up a gear when he needed to and in the next game he did what the German could not by breaking his opponent’s serve to move to 6-5 and he comfortably served out for a two-set lead.
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Federer went 2-0 down in the third set as Greul threatened to extend the match longer than anyone expected. It took until the seventh game for the Swiss to resume normal service and when he made the decisive breakthrough in the 11th to move to 6-5, victory was all but assured, the world number one winning the match with an ace to set up a rematch of his 2004 final against Hewitt.
Nadal was delighted to have got through his first match. “It felt good,” he said. “I served well in the important moments. I played very well on my backhand, which is very important in my game. I’m very happy to be in the second round.”
Nadal can complete a career grand-slam by capturing his first Flushing Meadows title. “I hope I have the last slam title here, they say the last is the most special,” he said. “I am just thinking about my next opponent, thinking about playing well. I know I’m in the right way so if I have the chance to win few more matches and I get the confidence, we will see what happens.”
Knee tendinitis prevented Nadal from defending his 2008 Wimbledon title and sidelined him for two months, making this his first match in a grand-slam tournament since losing to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open. “Seems like I was two years outside of competition,” he said. “I was two months.”
Nadal shrugged off any notion of lingering knee trouble. “I don’t have pain so I don’t think about it,” he said. “I’m playing and practising with a good attitude. That’s the important thing right now, trying to get into a good rhythm for the matches.”
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Nadal, whose reached last year’s semi-finals at Flushing Meadows, joked that his new haircut “makes him feel younger” and said his unexpected mid-season break has left him fitter. “I’m fresher than ever in this tournament,” he said. “I don’t know if this fresher is good but I’m fresh.”
Nadal expressed his support for Gasquet, who was playing his first top-level event since serving a two-and-a-half-month suspension issued after he tested positive for cocaine.
“It’s tough to come back,” Gasquet said. “I’ve been back about a month. It’s not a long time to get ready, especially against Rafa. I’m not very good. I’m not sure when but I will come back.”