Federer eases through

Defending champion Roger Federer kicked off his bid for a hat-trick of US Open titles with an easy first-round victory over Yeu-Tzuoo Wang.

The Swiss number one seed hardly broke sweat in wrapping up a 6-4 6-1 6-0 over his hapless Taipei opponent.

World number two Rafael Nadal is also safely through after opening play on Arthur Ashe Stadium, dismissing 1998 finalist Mark Philippoussis 6-4 6-4 6-4 after breaking once in each set.

The match was among those postponed yesterday following a near total wash out of the day’s play.

Nadal now plays Peruvian Luis Horna, who was a comfortable 7-5 6-4 6-3 victor over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.

Former winners Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin progressed, number 15 seed Hewitt beating Albert Montanes 7-5 6-4 6-3 and the unseeded Safin seeing off Robin Vik of the Czech Republic 6-1 6-1 3-6 6-3.

Fourth seed David Nalbandian survived a huge scare to book his place in the second round.

The Argentinian found himself two sets down to Michael Berrer of Germany before fighting back to seal a gutsy 4-6 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-5 6-2 win.

It will not get any easier with Safin his next opponent.

Other early winners tonight included number 10 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and number 26 Olivier Rochus of Belgium, who beat Jiri Vanek and Olivier Patience, respectively.

Meanwhile, former world number three Guillermo Coria retired injured when 2-3 down in the first set to American wildcard Ryan Sweeting.