Roddick, Davydenko, Blake move on at the Open
By: Import User
Updated: August 31, 2007
Birthday boy Andy Roddick, fourth- seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and sixth-seeded American James Blake were among Thursday's second-round winners at the 2007 U.S. Open.
Celebrating his 25th birthday, the fifth-seeded Roddick got past an injured Jose Acasuso 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in 90 minutes at Ashe Stadium, as the Argentine quit after three sets due to a left leg injury that required treatment on a few occasions on Day 4. A hobbled Acasuso uncorked 27 unforced errors before his exit.
"I don't think you like winning matches like that," Roddick said. "Especially I felt like I was starting to play okay and make returns and react. But at the end of the day, your goal is to get through and to give yourself a chance to play in the third round."
Roddick, who fired 12 aces in his three sets against Acasuso, was last year's U.S. Open runner-up to Roger Federer and captured his lone major title here in
The French Open semifinalist Davydenko dispatched oft-injured German Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 45 minutes. The gritty Russian broke Kiefer's serve a whopping six times and will now meet Spaniard Nicolas Almagro here on Saturday.
Blake, meanwhile, survived a grueling five-set match with Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 after over three hours of action.
At 4-4 in the fifth set, Blake saved two break points and then broke Santoro to record his first-career five set win. Blake finally put away the 34-year- old Santoro with a cross-court backhand as Santoro threw his racquet helplessly in the air.
Blake, who is coming off a Pilot Pen title this past weekend, overcame 71 errors that kept Santoro, who was battling left leg injuries, in the match.
Ninth-seeded Czech slugger Tomas Berdych breezed into the third round with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Italian Simone Bolelli, while an upset came when Korean Hyung-Taik Lee took out 14th-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 on the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Tenth-seeded German Tommy Haas dropped the first set to fellow countryman Philipp Petzschner before taking the next three to win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.
American Donald Young advanced to the round of 32 when his scheduled opponent, 13th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, pulled out of their match due to a fever and sore throat. The promising 18-year-old Young, who received a wild card for this particular fortnight, recorded his first career Grand Slam event victory here on Monday. The talented Gasquet was a
Nineteenth-seeded Brit Andy Murray needed all five sets to overcome 35-year- old Swede Jonas Bjorkman 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 on the Grandstand court, while a 28th-seeded Almagro defeated Luis Horna 6-4, 6-2, 2-1, as the Peruvian retired in the third set.
Other winners included
In second round action on Friday, second seed Rafael Nadal, who is battling a left knee injury, will take on Janko Tipsarevic and third seed Novak Djokovic will square off with Radek Stepanek.
