Roddick rockets into third round

America’s Andy Roddick put young pretender Rafael Nadal in his place to move into the third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

The second seed thrashed the 18-year-old Spaniard 6-0 6-3 6-4 and unleashed a serve of 152 miles per hour for the second straight match.

But Roddick’s hardest volley was a verbal one at chair umpire Andreas Egli, who he clashed with twice.

Roddick played down his outbursts and said: “If I cross the line, then I cross the line and I get a warning.

“You know, whatever, I don’t really think about it that much.”

Roddick now meets Guillermo Canas in the third round after the Argentinian beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 6-4 7-5 6-1.

Earlier, Juan Carlos Ferrero had become the highest men’s seed to fall at the final Grand Slam of the year – although he did not go down without a fight.

Stefan Koubek of Austria knocked out the seventh seed 7-6 (7/2) 4-6 6-7 (6/8) 6-2 6-3 on a day highlighted by matches that went the distance.

Ferrero needed nearly four-and-a-half hours to defeat unseeded Tomas Zib in five sets on Tuesday and the Spaniard was on court again for over four hours.

“I could not play 100 per cent fit,” said last year’s finalist, who has also been plagued by wrist and rib injuries this season. “I want to forget this year.”

In addition to Ferrero, two more seeds crashed out.

Argentina’s David Nalbandian – seeded 12 and a semi-finalist here last year - lost to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 7-5 2-6 6-4.

And 12th seed Sebastien Grosjean of France was eliminated 6-4 6-4 1-6 6-1 by Germany’s Tommy Haas, who missed all of the 2003 season due to a pair of shoulder operations.

Haas is on the comeback trail and has won two tournaments this season, including a triumph over Andy Roddick in the finals of the US Clay Court Championship in April.

Fourth seed and 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was expected to have a difficult time with Hicham Arazi, but he dispatched the Moroccan left-hander 7-6 (9/7) 6-1 6-2.

Arazi squandered two set points in the first-set tie-break, and Hewitt pounced on the opportunity.

The first set took 59 minutes before Hewitt took control and won the final two in a mere 56.

Hewitt has not made it past the quarter-finals in any of the three previous Grand Slams this year.