Fifth-seeded Andy Roddick rebounded from a tough first set and downed fellow American Justin Gimelstob 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3, in the nightcap Tuesday evening of first-round play at the U.S. Open. Roddick, the 2003 open champ and the runner-up to Roger Federer last year, outlasted his countryman under the lights at Louis Armstrong Stadium. The 30- year-old Gimelstob was playing in his final open, as he has announced he will retire later this year. Third-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic and sixth-seeded American James Blake were also among the first-round winners Tuesday at the 2007 U.S. Open. The French Open and Wimbledon semifinalist Djokovic handled Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 on Day 2 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. "It's always good to get the first matches done in the fastest possible way. It's good to win the first round in straight sets," said Djokovic. "I was a bit nervous on the start. I didn't play my game. But then I managed to take over the control and finish in straight sets." Djokovic recently captured a Masters Series tournament in Montreal, where he topped the top-three players in the world at the time -- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick -- to prevail. Blake, fresh off his title in New Haven last week, held off his tough fellow American Michael Russell 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) at Ashe Stadium. The fierce competitor Russell pushed Blake for 2 hours, 41 minutes in a very well played tennis match. The 27-year-old Blake, who popped 13 aces on Tuesday, reached the quarterfinals here the last two years. He'll face crafty Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in the round of 64. "I'm playing some of my best tennis, yeah," said Blake. "I definitely think I'm coming in here very confident. It's one of those things where for me, when I'm winning a lot of matches the way I have been, I get to 4-all, 5-all, 6-all in sets, I just feel like I'm gonna win 'em. I just have that confidence." Former U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt was also an easy winner, as the former world No. 1 Aussie leveled helpless American Amer Delic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. The 16th-seeded Hewitt captured the Open in 2001 and was the Wimbledon champ in 2002. Hewitt has reached at least the quarterfinals here for seven straight years and was the 2004 runner-up to Federer. In other action involving winning top-20 seeds, No. 12 Croat Ivan Ljubicic toyed with Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1; No. 15 David Ferrer breezed past Germany's Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina got past American Michael McClune 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0); No. 23 Argentine Juan Monaco topped Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5; No. 24 David Nalbandian of Argentina downed Spain's Ivan Navarro Pastor 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (8-6); and No. 31 Austrian Jurgen Melzer bested Argentine Diego Hartfield 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. French doubles specialist Michael Llodra took out 29th-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while speedy French veteran Arnaud Clement ousted 32nd-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 in a marathon 4-hour, 8-minute affair. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic exited the draw despite firing 38 aces among 89 winners. Additional wins came for Swede Thomas Johansson, the aforementioned Santoro, Austrian Stefan Koubek, American Wayne Odesnik, Romanian Andrei Pavel, Israeli Dudi Sela and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. The pesky Koubek went on to dismiss Sam Querrey 7-6 (7-1), 6-1, 6-1 after the American blew six set points in the opening stanza, while Odesnik outlasted Thai Danai Udomchoke in a grueling five-setter. Wednesday's first-round action will include Spain's Rafael Nadal, the second seed, who will face Australian Alun Jones and Russian Marat Safin, the last man to win a major other than Nadal or Roger Federer, when he won the Australian Open in 2005.
