Hewitt cruises into round two

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt cruised into the second round of the US Open at Flushing Meadow as he thrashed Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3 6-2 6-2.

The sixth-seeded Australian had struggled in his final two warm-up events but bounced back in impressive fashion against Hanescu, who was making his US Open debut.

Hewitt, who broke serve seven times, said: “I’ve been hitting the ball well. I’ve just got to take that over into a match situation.

“I felt like tonight was a start.”

Mardy Fish got off to a solid start with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 opening round win over 6ft 6in qualifier Joachim Johansson of Sweden.

The victory continues a superb run of form for Fish, who made the finals at Cincinnati just over a week ago where he battled former housemate Andy Roddick for three sets before falling, 4-6 7-6 7-6.

And Fish did not lose his serve in 74 service games.

Fish feels tennis does not get the recognition it deserves in the United States even with a strong corps of young players moving up in the rankings.

“A lot has to be with marketing,” said Fish. “The average person out there has no idea who I am, just to give you an example. I’m 26 in the world.

“Outside the United States, you go to London and Hamburg and Rome, those places, those kids know everybody.

“It’s exciting to play in front of people like that who know who you are.

“It’s getting better. Andy and I played a great match in Cincinnati and it was on live TV.

“I think we got a little clip in USA Today on the back page, It’s tough. I think that we can kind of keep ourselves open to doing more press stuff, trying to promote the game. I’d love to promote the game.”

French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to battle before defeating towering qualifier Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2.

The 23-year-old Spaniard has recorded personal bests at each of the three prior Grand Slams this season.

He reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in January, won his first Major at the French Open and advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon.

His best showing here was reaching the fourth round in 2000.

Two seeds fell as Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado outlasted ninth-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco eliminated his fellow countryman and 17th seed Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Fifth seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina raced into the second round with a 6-4 6-3 6-1 triumph over fellow countryman Mariano Puerta.