The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Davydenko sails through; Jankovic struggles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Davydenko sails through; Jankovic struggles

NEW YORK: Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko posted a quick and early victory on Monday at the U.S. Open, and Jelena Jankovic struggled through some second-set trouble before prevailing on the opening day of the final Grand Slam of the season.

Davydenko, a semifinalist last year, eliminated American teenager Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-0, 6-1, needing only 1 hour, 40 minutes to beat one of 10 men making their first appearance in the U.S. Open on Monday.

Jankovic began the day on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium show court and, after taking a 6-2, 5-1 lead, lost four straight before finally subduing Jamila Gajdosova of Slovenia 6-2, 7-6(2).

Gajdosova survived double-match point at 5-4 to break Jankovic for a second time. She held and forced the tiebreaker, but the Serbian closed out the victory in 1:20.

Unlike last year, when rain disrupted play throughout the first week, the tournament began under mostly sunny skies with temperatures around 26 degrees Celsius and 54 percent humidity. Ai Sugiyama (No. 28) was the first to advance to the second round, dispatching Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 6-3, 6-1. The Japanese player converted four-of-six break points and took only 1:07 to complete the win.

In other early play, No. 15 Dinara Safina beat Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-2, 6-3 and No. 27 Vera Zvonareva defeated Alina Jikdova 6-0, 6-7 (5) 6-0.

The results: (prefix denotes seedings): Men: first round: 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Jesse Levine (US) 6-4, 6-0, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt 21-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Women: first round: 28-Ai Sugiyama (Jap) bt Andreja Klepac, Slovenia, 6-3, 6-1; 15-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Catalina Castano (Col) 6-2, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Lauren Albanese (US) 6-0, 6-2; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt Julia Schr uff (Ger) 6-1, 0-6, 6-2; Olga Govortsova (Bel) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; 3-Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (Slo) 6-2, 7-6(2); Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) 6-3, 7-6(4); 27-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Alina Jidkova (Rus) 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-0. — AP

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