Roger Federer takes care of Grega Zemlja in straight sets on Tuesday in New York. Federer is joined in the second round by John Isner, a lightning-fast winner over Filippo Volandri.
(1) Roger Federer d. Grega Zemlja 6-3, 6-2, 7-5
Federer struck 12 aces, 35 winners, and committed just 16 unforced errors as he handled Zemlja in just one hour and 33 minutes during U.S. Open first-round action on Monday afternoon. The seventh-ranked Swiss cruised through sets one and two without dropping serve. In fact, Zemlja won a mere three return points in each frame of play and obviously did not get a look at a single break chance.
Out of absolutely nowhere, Federer dropped serve at 4-3 in the third. Zemlja then held for a surprising 5-4 lead, but the underdog Slovenian did not get any closer to stealing a set. Federer woke up and held serve before breaking at 5-5. The five-time champion in New York converted his second match point in the 12th game of the set with a swinging forehand volley winner. Next up for Federer is Carlos Berlocq, a five-set victor over Santiago Giraldo.
(13) John Isner vs. Filippo Volandri 6-0, 6-2, 6-3
Isner took advantage of an easy first-round draw and crushed Volandri in one hour and 16 minutes on Monday. Volandri, unquestionably one of the two or three worst hard-court players in the tournament, failed to win a single game in the opening set. The 31-year-old Italian had not played on this surface since the Australian Open and he has not earned a hard-court victory since January of 2007. He at least managed to hold serve twice in the second and three times in third, but he was never more than an innocent bystander.
On the other hand, a red-hot Isner picked up his 15th hard-court win of this summer. A champion in Atlanta and runner-up in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati, the 6’10” American fired 16 aces in this one and saved the only two break points he faced. A routine hold at 5-3 in set three wrapped up the proceedings in style and set up what should be a far more entertaining second-round showdown. Gael Monfils, who reached the Winston-Salem final last month, awaits Isner on Thursday. Monfils hammered Adrian Ungur 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 in his opener.
Had this been the deceased TT site, surely there would have been some Fed (and maybe also Isner) fan cheering them on.
As it is, it is clear that the so called fans were just interested in wreaking havoc, nothing more than that. Not a single comment here…
Was it @nadline (clayqueen) who said, “there is only 2 kinds of tennis fans: Rafa fans and Rafa haters”? So true, am afraid, so true………..
It would be a shame if more of the real fans of other players didn’t join in on this site. But it is a blessed relief to chat about the tennis without the disruption of the hate-brigade and the hateful personal attacks.
btw: where has Holdserve disappeared to – just when I’d finally agreed a truce with him?