New York, Aug. 30: Italy’s Francesca Schiavone eased into the second round of the US Open with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Japan’s Ayumi Morita on Monday.
French Open champion Schiavone, who had previously won just three matches since her Roland Garros triumph, wrapped up the first set in 29 minutes with a forehand down the line.
The number six seed was even more dominant in the second set as Morita, with only one Grand Slam singles victory in 10 attempts, proved unable to pose much of a threat.
American teenager Melanie Oudin, the home crowd darling of last year’s US Open, set aside her season’s struggles to launch this year’s edition of the tournament with a straight sets win on centre court.
Oudin, who blazed into the quarterfinals last year riding the support of the thunderous Flushing Meadows crowds, took a positive first step on Monday by beating Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-0 on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Paes-Dlouhy seeded third at US Open
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third in the men’s doubles event of the US Open and the Indo-Czech pair will open their campaign against the Czech-Slovakian combo of Martin Damm and Filip Polasek.
Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi are seeded fourth and will take on the French pair of Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Mahut in their first match.
In-form Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi are seeded 16th and will face American duo Brian Battistone and Ryler De Heart in the first round.
Women’s singles
1st round
Francesca Schiavone (ITA x6) bt Ayumi Morita (JPN) 6-1, 6-0, Melanie Oudin (USA) bt Olga Savchuk (UKR) 6-3, 6-0, Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) bt Sophie Ferguson (AUS) 6-4, 6-0, Alisa Kleybanova (RUS x28) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, Elena Dementieva (RUS x12) bt Olga Govortsova (BLR) 6-1, 6-2, Elena Baltacha (GBR) bt Petra Martic (CRO) 6-2, 6-2.
Men’s singles
1st round
Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP x22) bt Martin Klizan (SVK) 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, Kei Nishikori (JPN) bt Evgeny Korolev (KAZ) 7-6 (7/0), 5-2, retired.