Seeds continued steady progress on Wednesday at the US Open, with fourth-seeded Spanish quiet man David Ferrer earning a 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) defeat of South African Kevin Anderson to reach the second round.
Ferrer is the top Spaniard in the field with the injury absence of Rafael Nadal, but has never generated anything like the headlines that his celebrated compatriot inspires.
But Ferrer still managed to make an impression with a typically fighting win over two and a quarter hours, as the broke Anderson three times while never losing his own serve.
The 30-year-old ironman produced his best career Grand Slam showing at the event five years ago, when he beat Nadal and got all the way to the semis where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard owns 16 career titles and has not lost in the first round of a major since 2005 Wimbledon.
Serbian eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic escaped a a scare before he put out Frenchman Guillaume Rufin 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Finn Jarkko Nieminen needed only 45 minutes on court as he led injured Mikhail Kukushkin 6-0, 6-2 before the Kazakh retired.
In women’s play, top seed and world number one Victoria Azarenka reached the third round as she crushed Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-2 whole Czech 15th seed Lucie Safarova needed to go the distance to overcome Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
Conditions were difficult on court, with sun and wind to cope with.
“It was another good performance today,” said Azarenka, who tends to sneak through most tournament draws with a minimum of attention despite her WTA status.
“It was a little bit difficult with the wind today. It was blowing a lot from one side. You had to adjust every time you changed sides.
With the wind behind, you had to be more patient, sometimes more aggressive, more spin. On the other one you had to kind of fight against it.
“I think I adjusted really well,” she said.
Ffith seed Petra Kvitova did it easy over Alize Cornet of France, 6-4, 6-3.
Two Americans moved through, with university student Mallory Burdette beating Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 6-4 and Varvara Lepchenko advancing over Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 6-2.
via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis/article3837027.ece
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