Federer enjoys easy start

12 April 2012

Three-time defending champion Roger Federer began his quest for a fourth successive US Open title with a straightforward victory over American qualifier Scoville Jenkins on the first day in New York.

Federer was returning to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court for the first time since his four-set victory over Andy Roddick in last year's final and he continued where he left off last September with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 win over Jenkins.

The Swiss top seed took just one hour and 32 minutes to dispatch of Jenkins, who has now lost in the opening round of the US Open for the third consecutive year.

Federer never had to break out of second gear to secure a second round tie against another qualifier, either Rainer Schuettler of Germany or Chile's Paul Capdeville.

Third seed Novak Djokovic caught a break before his US Open got under way when first-round opponent Mario Ancic was forced to withdraw from the championship. The Croatian was forced to withdraw citing a right shoulder injury and Djokovic now will face Robin Haas, a lucky loser from the qualifying rounds.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko got his campaign off to a flying start as the Russian swept past American wildcard Jesse Levine 6-4 6-0 6-1 in an hour and 40 minutes to set up a meeting with either Nicolas Kiefer of Germany or America's Vincent Spadea.

Ninth seed Tomas Berdych and 10th seed Tommy Haas both progressed. Berdych, from the Czech Republic, accounted for Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-3 7-6 (7-0) 6-2, while Germany's Haas went a set down before knocking out Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3 6-4.

There were early casualties among the men's seeds when number 18 Marcos Baghdatis, 21st-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero and number 26 Jarkko Nieminen were all bundled out of the championship as an opening day record crowd of 35,058 thronged the National Tennis Center.

Baghdatis succumbed to Max Mirnyi of Belarus in four sets, 6-3 7-5 3-6 7-6 (8-6), while Nieminen fell victim to American giant John Isner, 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. Ferrero was less competitive, going down in straight sets to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 6-4.

Both Ferrero and Nieminen were in the same quadrant of the draw as Federer but while the way cleared a little, the defending champion is still on course to meet Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the fourth round, who beat Argentina's Sergio Roitman 7-5 6-1 6-2.

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