Andy Murray was comfortable and Dinara Safina was anything but, as both won their first-round matches at the US Open on Tuesday.
Murray, seeded second, had a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 win over Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis. The Scot, who lost to Roger Federer in last year’s final, will play Chile’s Paul Capdeville in round two as he aims to become the first Briton in 63 years to win a Grand Slam tournament.
His relatively smooth progress was jolted in the third set, however, when Murray made a mad dash to retrieve a half-volley and hit the deck just after reaching the ball with a backhand, sending the Scot sprawling along the rubberized hardcourt.
PHOTO: AFP
“Just a few bruises,” the 22-year-old told reporters. “Maybe it will hurt in the morning for a little bit, but I don’t think it did any damage.”
Murray’s crash landing in the ninth game of the third set came shortly after a similarly spectacular tumble by a ballboy, whose foot clipped an advertising awning as he chased a ball, sending him splattering into a photographers box.
The boy sat out the next point as he gathered himself. When he got back to his position alongside the court, the giant TV screen at Arthur Ashe Stadium had him on close-up and then showed a replay of his fall.
PHOTO: AFP
Another close-up of the fallen ballboy brought a huge ovation from the night show crowd crammed into the arena.
“When the ball kid fell over, you wouldn’t get that at any of the other slams where he’s up on the big screen and the crowd get into it,” Murray said. “You know, that was one of the loudest cheers of the evening.”
While Murray won in straight sets, two other title contenders were even more dominant in their first-round matches: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic crushed Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-1, 6-3, while France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga barely raised a sweat in blasting past American Chase Buchanan 6-0, 6-2, 6-1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The seeded casualties on Wednesday were Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, and Russian Igor Andreev, who only won six games against No.276-ranked Jesse Witten of the US.
Safina, whose reign as the world’s No.1-ranked player has come despite never winning a Grand Slam event, was stretched to the limit by unheralded 18-year-old Australian Olga Rogowska.
The Russian struggled through 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 despite 11 double faults and 48 unforced errors and being one point away from going down 4-0 in the third set.
PHOTO: EPA
Asked to nominate positives from the match, Safina said: “I didn’t break any rackets and didn’t get any warnings.”
“At the end of the day, I made it. I pulled it out, and that’s what counts for me,” she said.
Safina is accustomed to cruising through the early rounds.
Usually, the problems emerge later: she is winless in three major finals, all lopsided losses, and she managed to win only one game against Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.
“I was surprised that, you know, she was giving me free points,” said Rogowska, an 18-year-old who never has defeated anyone ranked better than 47th.
“I’m disappointed I lost,” she said, “and I didn’t expect to say that after playing the No. 1 player in the world. It’s a bit weird.”
Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki all breezed into the second round with straight-sets victories, but Ana Ivanovic crashed out early for the second year running, beaten 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) by Kateryna Bonarenko.
The Serb had the worst showing ever by a top-seeded woman in New York last year when she exited in the second round. This year, she didn’t even make it that far.
“It hurts, I can tell you that,” the former French Open champion said. “I’m sure I’ll have sleepless nights. But I have to accept it and try to put this year behind me, and try to learn from it.”
France’s Virginie Razzano, Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova and Hungary’s Agnes Szavay were the other seeds to tumble on day two.
Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who missed nearly 10 months with a shoulder injury, made her belated first Grand Slam appearance of the year, beating Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-0.
“This is a Grand Slam. You’ve got to get going from the first match,” Sharapova said. “I’m more than excited to have the opportunity to play any match. After being gone, this is what it’s all about.”
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