Sport - Tennis

Dushevina makes Ivanovic sweat; Federer cruises

NEW YORK: Ana Ivanovic needed every scrap of her youthful ebullience on Tuesday to narrowly avoid the humiliation of becoming the first top-seeded woman to lose in the opening round of the U.S. Open.

It took the 20-year-old Serbian just over two hours to make her standing as World No. 1 count against a valiant Vera Dushevina and she booked her place in round two with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 triumph.

Roger Federer may no longer occupy the top spot in the men’s rankings after being dethroned by Rafael Nadal last week but he showed he was still the man to beat after handing obscure Argentine Maximo Gonzalez a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 masterclass.

German Tommy Haas produced the biggest surprise of the day, beating the twelfth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-7(3), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Ivanovic also needed some inspiration to stay alive on Tuesday.

Perhaps still troubled by a right thumb injury which ruled her out of the Olympics, Ivanovic randomly misfired her shots to notch up 40 unforced errors.

It led to a fan screaming out in desperation: “You’re No. 1 for a reason.” She heeded the call to subdue the 57th-ranked Russian on her third match point.

Her potential quarterfinal opponent, sixth seed Dinara Safina, kept up her recent hot streak to beat grand slam debutante Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4.

Slovakian 11th seed Daniela Hantuchova, however, fell by the wayside when she was flattened 6-4, 6-2 by qualifier Anna-Lena Groenefeld. Haas completed a good day for the Germans when he beat Gasquet.

Safina made no allowances for Ahn, who at 16 is the youngest woman in the draw, and showed off her repertoire of groundstrokes and thundering serves to get her campaign off to a flying start.

In doubles action, seventh seeded Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy rallied from a set down to advance into the second round. The Indo-Czech pair defeated Spaniards Oscar Hernandez and Albert Montanes, 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-4.

Marat Safin raged and ranted at umpire Carlos Bernades after he was controversially foot-faulted on a second serve late in the fourth set against Vince Spadea.

With Bernades refusing to overturn the call — which gave Spadea set point — Safin turned the air blue, incurred a warning and slumped into his chair refusing to play on.

The incident effectively cost the former World No. 1 the set but he eventually put a lid on his emotions to carve out a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win.

Fourth seed Serena Williams relied on her 20/20 vision as she began her title charge with a 6-1, 6-4 thumping of Kateryna Bondarenko and her sister Venus was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Samantha Stosur.

Former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo flirted with danger before she defeated fellow Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. — Agencies

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

First round: Women: 32-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Nathalie Dechy (Fra) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; 17-Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 7-5, 6-0; 7-Venus Williams (USA) bt Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-2, 6-3; Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Monica Niculescu (Rou) 6-0, 6-3; 27-Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Jamea Jackson (USA) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Bethanie Mattek (USA) bt Marta Domachowska (Pol) 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-4; Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Esp) 6-3, 6-4; 4-Serena Williams (USA) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-1, 6-4; 18-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Jill Craybas (USA) 6-3, 7-6(4); 19-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Olivia Sanchez (Fra) 6-2, 6-4; Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) bt 31-Virginie Razzano (Fra) 6-4, 6-1; 20-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Petra Cetkovska (Cze) 6-1, 6-2; Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) bt 11-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 6-4 6-2; Hsieh Su-Wei (Tpe) bt Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) 6-2, 6-4; 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Maret Ani (Est) 6-0, 7-6(5); 1-Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Vera Dushevina (Rus) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; 30-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Andreja Klepac (Slo) 4-6, 6-3, 4-2 retired; Mariana Duque (Col) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2; 16-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Stefanie Voegele (Sui) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; 13-Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt Gail Brodsky (USA) 7-5, 6-3; 6-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Kristie Ahn (USA) 6-3, 6-4; Peng Shuai (Chn) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-1, 6-0.

Men: 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) 6-3, 6-0, 6-3; Bobby Reynolds (USA) bt Tomas Zib (Cze) 6-4, 6-7(3), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4); 24-Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2; Mardy Fish (USA) bt Robert Smeets (Aus) 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4; Ivo Minar (Cze) bt 20-Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 4-1 retired; 23-Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Marc Gicquel (Fra) 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4; 11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Ivan Navarro (Esp) 7-6(3), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5); 31-Andreas Seppi (Ita) bt Hyung-Taik Lee (Kor) 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3; Tommy Haas (Ger) bt 12-Richard Gasquet (Fra) 6-7(3), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2; Marat Safin (Rus) bt Vince Spadea (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 15-Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Mischa Zverev (Ger) 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-1; Gilles Muller (Lux) bt Laurent Recouderc (Fra) 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4; 13-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Lu Yen-Hsun (Tpe) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Scoville Jenkins (USA) 6-3, 6-3, 7-5; 14-Ivo Karlovic (Cro) bt Jan Minar (Cze) 7-5, 6-1, 6-4; Sam Querrey (USA) bt 22-Tomas Berdych (Cze) 6-3, 6-1, 6-2; Florent Serra (Fra) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) 7-6(8), 6-0, 2-0 retired.

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