Federer advances in US Open

Four-time defending champion Roger Federer began his bid for a first Grand Slam win of the season with a comfortable first round victory over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.

Federer has not won a Grand Slam this year, having lost in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon to Rafael Nadal, who subsequently ended the Swiss’ four-and-a-half-year reign at the top of the world rankings.

But Federer, who last year won his 12th Grand Slam title with victory at Flushing Meadows to move within two of Pete Sampras’ record, was at home on the Arthur Ashe Stadium hardcourt, defeating world number 118 Gonzalez in one hour 21 minutes.

Federer, who won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in both 2006 and 2007, is in danger of coming away with none this year for the first time since 2002.

He took his first step toward turning that around by easily dispatching the 25-year-old Gonzalez, who is ranked 118th in the world, in the first meeting between the pair.

Gonzalez did not use that unfamiliarity to his advantage, failing to gain any momentum other than a brief 3-2 lead in the third set.

Federer used his booming serve to his overwhelm his opponent, recording 15 aces and winning 73% of points on his first serve.

“I think it was a good match to start off with,” Federer said.

“I had never seen my opponent before. That was the tricky part. I thought the other guy played good for the pressure he was under.”

Federer, who had his record streak of 237 consecutive weeks as the world number one end last week, has had little success lately.

He has just two singles titles this year – at Estoril and Halle – while losing to Nadal in the finals on four occasions but he remains unfazed after entering a Grand Slam as the number two seed for the first time since the 2004 Australian Open.

“One or two is always pretty much the same thing,” Federer added.

“The change I feel is, fans are really supporting me and telling me I’m still number one and still the best, saying, ’You’re going to be there again’.

“I feel like I’ve got unbelievable support from the fans watching me and seeing people in the streets and stuff. It’s really nice.”

While Federer moved on, Richard Gasquet’s stay here was a short one.

The 12th-seeded Frenchman endured a 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 5-7 7-5 6-2 first-round upset at the hands of Tommy Haas.

Hoping to make a run at the year’s final major after reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon, Gasquet was his own worst enemy as he committed an astounding 64 unforced errors in becoming the highest-seeded player to lose.

Haas entered as a dangerous opponent, with the German having reached the quarter-finals here in each of the last two years.

The 11th seed from Spain, Fernando Gonzalez got past countryman Ivan Navarro 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/5).

In a match which featured some high intensity, Marat Safin outlasted American Vincent Spadea 3-6 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-4.

The 2000 champion, Safin was visibly upset with the chair umpire in the fourth set and also threw his racket at one point in the match. At the the start of the fifth set, a tournament official was summoned to calm down the Russian.

“At the end of the fourth set, I was having some problems fighting with the linesman and the chair umpire because they were wrong, of course,” said Safin referring to being called for a foot-fault.

Fernando Verdasco coasted in the second round with a 6-3 6-4 6-1 triumph over Igor Kunitsyn.

Ivo Karlovic of Croatia booked a spot in the second round with a 7-5 6-1 6-4 triumph over Jan Minar.

American Sam Querrey managed to post a mild upset with a 6-3 6-1 6-2 triumph over 22nd seed Tomas Berdych.

Ranked 55th in the world, Querrey has failed to make it past the second round in his first two appearances at the US Open.

Querrey was outstanding against his Czech opponent, winning 88% (35-of-40) of his first serves.

It was a disappointing result for Berdych, who reached the fourth round here last year.

Another seeded player, 20th seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, will also not move on after being forced to retire in the fourth set of his match with an undisclosed injury. He was trailing the Czech Republic’s Ivo Minar 4-6 6-1 6-4 4-1 before bowing out.

Other seeded winners included Tommy Robredo, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Igor Andreev and Andreas Seppi. Unseeded American Mardy Fish also advanced with a 7-6 (7/4) 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 6-4 triumph over Australian Robert Smeets.