Gold medal winners Nadal, Dementieva off and running at US Open
Rafael Nadal, who goes into a Grand Slam ranked No. 1 in the world for the first time, outlasted Bjorn Phau 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on day one of the 2008 US Open Monday.
The 22-year-old Spaniard fired seven aces and hammered 37 winners but it wasn’t the opening statement he had hoped for as he needed three hours to beat 146th ranked journeyman Phau.
Nadal moves through to the second round where he will face either Ryler De Heart, of the US, or Belgium’s Olivier Rochus.
Scottish sixth seed Andy Murray, who is looking to improve on his fourth-round finish last year, rolled to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 win over Sergio Roitman in his opening match in the final Grand Slam of the season.
On the women’s side of the draw, newly-crowned Beijing gold medal winner Elena Dementieva, third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, China’s Li Na and 23rd seeded Lindsay Davenport, of the US, also advanced Monday.
Nadal is also fresh off a gold-medal performance at the Beijing Olympics to go with his victories at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Last week he surpassed Roger Federer as the world’s top ranked player after spending a record 160 weeks as No. 2.
The sky is the limit for Nadal who has eight titles this season but has never made it to a hardcourt Grand Slam final.
Dementieva got off to a winning start by brushing aside Akgul Amanmuradova in straight sets on Monday.
But like Nadal, fifth seed Dementieva struggled at times but says she will take the 6-4, 7-5 victory and use it as a stepping stone to better things.
“The first round is never easy,” said Dementieva, who stopped Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva before beating Russian compatriot Dinara Safina in the gold medal match at the Olympics.
“I was trying to stay focussed as well as I could,” she said. “It’s a matter of how fresh I can stay for this tournament.
“I want to get some rest and make sure I don’t practise as much as I did in Beijing. I need to save some energy for this tournament.”
Dementieva had four double faults and only three aces but made less unforced errors 20 to 32 than her opponent in the 88 minute match on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Dementieva next faces France’s Pauline Parmentier, who beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).
She is looking to capture her first career Grand Slam title and has a chance at becoming the world number one if she can win at Flushing Meadows.
The top spot has changed several times this year and while Serbian Ana Ivanovic is the top seed, the women’s field is more wide open than previous years.
Dementieva said there is no clear favourite as the past three US Open winners (Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters) are not entered.
“It is because Justine is not here,” Dementieva said. “There have been some great performances from a lot of players this year but we don’t have anything like Justine who was able to win every single tournament.”
Li got off to a shaky start before coming from behind to beat Israel’s Shahar Peer 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 on the Grandstand court.
Li converted five of six break point chances and won 58 percent of her second serve points to Peer’s 42 percent.
Li made 20 of her 40 unforced errors in a sloppy first set before she settled into form in the second and third sets.
“In the first set I felt like I was playing against a wall,” Li said. “In the second set I told myself to just play your game and don’t give up.”