Fed Express breezes into round three
Federer has won 42 of his past 43 matches at Flushing Meadows, the only loss coming in last year’s final. Federer is the only previous winner of the US Open left in the men’s field.
Federer is trying to become the first man in the Open era, which began in 1968, to win this tournament six times.
France’s Richard Gasquet produced a superb performance to send sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko crashing out.
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 carried on where he had left off againstGermany’s Simon Greul, dismissing 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.
Mardy Fish continued his impressive form to power into the third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.
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.
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.
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.
In the women’s championship, American teenager Beatrice Capra gave the home crowd plenty to cheer by knocking out France’s Aravane Rezai, the 18th seed, in the second round.
The 18-year-old, who is making her main tour and Grand Slam debut in New York, only secured her place in the tournament by winning an eight-woman USTA wild card play-off.
But the world number 371 held her nerve to win 7-5 2-6 6-3 on Grandstand Court after Rezai threatened to come back from 4-1 down in the decider.
Capra could now in the third round face former champion Maria Sharapova.
“I don’t even want to think about that right now,” Capra added. “But it would be so amazing if I got to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium.”
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki wasted no time in reaching the last 32, hammering Chang Kai-chen of Chinese Taipei 6-0 6-0 in 47 minutes.
Wozniacki, who lost to Kim Clijsters in last year’s final, has dropped just two games in her first two matches.
Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva also moved into the third round with victory over Germany’s Sabine Lisicki.
Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, beat Julia Goerges 6-4 7-5, but 22nd seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez lost in straight sets to Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder.
