Roger Federer eases past Brian Dabul at US Open

Federer saw his five-year unbeaten run in New York

Five-time champion Roger Federer got his US Open campaign off to a smooth start as he defeated Argentina's Brian Dabul in the first round. The Swiss eased through 6-1 6-4 6-2 in the night session, with one spectacular through-the-legs winner in the third set thrilling the New York crowd. Federer goes on to face Germany's Andreas Beck in the second round. Fifth seed Robin Soderling earlier survived a huge scare to beat Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer. The Swede suffered a mid-match collapse before regaining his focus to win 7-5 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 5-7 6-4. Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko saw off Michael Russell and 2003 champion Andy Roddick was also a comfortable winner.

But 32nd seed Lleyton Hewitt lost 6-3 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-1 to Paul-Henri Mathieu. The Australian, who won the title in 2001, fought back from two sets down only for Frenchman Mathieu to dominate the decider and condemn Hewitt to a first-ever defeat in the opening round at Flushing Meadows.  "I still believe I can improve as a player," said Hewitt afterwards. "When I play my best tennis, like in Halle (in June, when he beat Roger Federer and won the title), I still feel like I can match it with anyone." Soderling is the highest-ranked player Federer could face before the semi-finals but he nearly crashed out at the hands of Haider-Maurer, a player ranked 214th in the world. 

The Austrian, whose most recent tournament was a Futures event on clay in Italy, made it through qualifying to reach the main draw but looked to be heading for a swift exit. Yet Soderling - with only two hard court victories to his name in the build-up to Flushing Meadows - wasted four match points in the third set and he was almost made to pay. Haider-Maurer, making his Grand Slam debut and facing a top-10 opponent for the first time, began utilising his booming serve to dominate the two-time French Open runner-up and finished with 34 aces to Soderling's eight. But Soderling, who sent down 13 double faults, showed his experience in the fifth set to come through in three hours and 52 minutes.There were no such problems for two-time semi-finalist Davydenko as he saw off Russell of the United States 6-4 6-1 6-3 to set up a meeting with Richard Gasquet, a straight-sets winner against Simon Greul. 

Davydenko was sidelined for three months in March with a broken left wrist and since then the Russian has won back-to-back matches only once. "I don't know if my physical condition is good for five sets. I need to see in more matches," he said. "Before my injury I felt much more confidence and much stronger. "If you play matches you feel like top 10. I don't feel like I'm a top-10 player now at this time. When I get more matches, I can tell if I'm playing like a top-10 player." Federer was untroubled as he saw off Dabul in 93 minutes, the highlight being a through-the-legs winner that brought back memories of a similar shot he played against Novak Djokovic in last year's semi-final.  "I thought I was a bit late," Federer told the crowd. "I had to give it one last push to get there and then I thought 'I think I can do this one again.' "I've only hit a few in my life. To do it twice at the US Open centre court... it's amazing to share this moment with you guys. Thanks for the ovation. I love it." 

Roddick, meanwhile, celebrated his 28th birthday with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over France's Stephane Robert and he will next meet either Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Olivier Rochus 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-0) 6-2. "I was happy," said Roddick after his match on Arthur Ashe Stadium. "Conditions are a little tricky. The wind blows a little out there." The American is attempting to recapture the form that saw him reach the Indian Wells final in March and beat Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych en route to the Miami title in April. "It's just a matter of being solid and serving a high first-serve percentage," stated Roddick, who served at 68%. "I was playing a lot of clean tennis earlier in the season. I have to tighten it up a little bit." 

Other straight-sets winners included 11th seed Marin Cilic and Juan Carlos Ferrero, the number 22 seed, while 13th seed Jurgen Melzer and 17th seed Gael Monfils both needed five sets to advance. But a knee problem forced Fernando Gonzalez, the 27th seed, to retire against Croatia's Ivan Dodig with the match level at a set all.