Easy for Federer and Nadal in New York
Rafael Nadal: No mercy for his friend Gasquet
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Thursday, 03, Sep 2009 12:44
By James Christie
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both recorded straight-sets wins in the US Open on a day when a former champion played his last match at Flushing Meadows.
Nadal, who missed Wimbledon due to tendonitis in his knees, inflicted pain on his opponent Richard Gasquet whose pre-match comment that only a sado-masochist would want to face the Spaniard rang true.
Gasquet was returning to action following a two-match suspension for testing positive for cocaine and expressed gratitude to Nadal for supporting his defence that the drug showed up in his system as a result of kissing a girl in a nightclub.
But Nadal, wearing a Brazilian-style combination of yellow shirt and sky-blue headband, showed little generosity of spirit on court - winning 6-2 6-2 6-3 to set up a second-round tie with Nicholas Kiefer of Germany.
The number three seed afterwards declared himself pain-free - an ominous thought for his rivals, one of whom is Federer, who defeated Germany's Simon Greul 6-3 7-5 7-5.
While Nadal is only through to the second round, Federer is now in the third round - a poor piece of organisation by tournament officials and one which hopefully won't mean Nadal is more tired than Federer should they play later in the event.
Such a match would depend on Federer beating his next opponent, 2001 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3 6-3 6-4.
Federer has an excellent recent record against Hewitt, which suggests that a straight-sets victory could be on the cards.
However, the form book also suggested he wouldn't drop a set against Andy Roddick in this year's Wimbledon final, and look what happened there.
Sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro - many experts' outside bet for the tournament - won an all-Argentinean affair with Juan Monaco, 6-3 6-3 6-1.
Russian Marat Safin has now played his final grand slam match on the same court where ten years ago he shocked the world by beating Pete Sampras in the final.
Such was his dominance in that match that it seemed quite likely that the player who had the moodiness and hulking presence of a Bond villain would go on to win many major tournaments.
His career has been marked by under-achievement, although he did briefly threaten to be a bogey opponent for Roger Federer - beating him in an epic Australian Open final en route to his only other grand slam success.
There will be much sorrow that he lost 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 to Jurgen Melzer of Austria, as the tennis world will be a less colourful place without his unpredictable brilliance.