A Look Back at Day One of the 2010 U.S. Open and a Look Ahead to Day Two
The sun was out and the fans swarmed to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Day One of the 2010 U.S. Open. While the day was filled with a bunch of close and thrilling matches, there were no major upsets.
On the men’s side, Lleyton Hewitt was the first seed to fall, as he dropped a tough five set match to Paul-Henri Mathieu. After coming back from two sets to none down to force a deciding fifth set, Hewitt just couldn’t find enough in the tank to continue the comback and Mathieu was able to dominate the final set. Mathieu prevailed, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1.
Fifth-seeded Robin Soderling survived a scare and defeated Andreas Heider-Maurer in five sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 5-7,6-4. In similar fashion to Mathieu, Soderling won the first two sets, then proceeded to drop the next two, before winning the fifth. Also winning in five sets was 17th-seeded Gael Monfils who defeated American and New York Sportimes player Robert Kendrick from World TeamTennis and Jurgen Melzer, who fought off a tough challenge from Dmitri Tursunov.
Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Marin Cilic and Nikolay Davydenko all won in straight sets to move on to the second round. Davydenko will now face American Taylor Dent in the second round after Dent knocked off Alejandro Falla in straight sets.
On the women’s side, American and 2009 U.S. Open Cinderella story Melanie Oudin got the tournament started playing the first match on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court and was very impressive winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0. Venus Williams also won in straight sets, as did Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone. One top player didn’t have it so easy, but Samantha Stosur was able to overcome a poor start and came back to defeat Elena Vesnina in three sets.
In a battle of two young Americans, Vania King was able to knock off Christina McHale in three sets. King won the first set 6-3, dropped the second set 0-6, before coming back to win the third impressively 6-1. Also Flavia Pennetta, the 19th seed, was too much for New York native Irina Falconi who was playing in her first major, as Pennetta won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
Looking ahead to Day 2 action, the night session will bring tennis fans their first look at the number one for this year’s Open, as Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will headline the evening. In the day session, Jelena Jankovic, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova will play their first round matches, as will Americans Mardy Fish, James Blake and Coco Vandeweghe.
In doubles action, Long Island native Scott Lipsky from Merrick, N.Y. will team with German Ross Hutchins to take on the fifth-seeded doubles team of Oliver Marach & Lukasz Kabot on Court 15.
Click here for a complete schedule of Day Two action at the 2010 U.S. Open.
All photos credited to Kenneth B. Goldberg
Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia en route to her first round victory against Russian Dinara Safina, 6-3, 6-4
Russian Dinara Safina shows her disgust during her first round 2010 Open defeat to Daniela Hantuchova
32nd-ranked Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was upset in the first round of the 2010 U.S. Open by Paul-Henri Mathieu from France, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1
Melanie Oudin of the United States kicks off 2010 U.S. Open action with a 6-3, 6-0 defeated of Ukranian Olga Savchuk
Russian Nikolay Davydenko, seeded sixth on the men’s side on his way to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 victory over American player Michael Russell
Third-seeded Venus Williams wins her evening match at Arthur Ashe Stadium against Italian Roberta Vinci,
6-4, 6-1 during opening night of the 2010 U.S. Open
American Robert Kendrick during his 2010 U.S. Open first round defeat to Gael Monfils of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4
Fifth-ranked Robin Soderling of Sweden on his way to victory in the opening round of the 2010 U.S. Open against Andreas Haider-Maurer, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(2), 5-7, 6-4
Gael Monfils of France in first round action on Day One of the 2010 U.S. Open against American Robert Kendrick
