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| September 1, 2005 | Thursday | Rajab 26, 1426 |
Unknown Muller humbles fancied Roddick
NEW YORK, Aug 31: A little-known left-hander from Luxembourg destroyed the US Open dream of American Andy Roddick on Tuesday. Gilles Muller, a 22-year-old playing at Flushing Meadows for the first time, produced the tennis of his life to beat the 2003 champion and fourth seed 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a huge first round upset on Roddick’s 23rd birthday.
Representing a nation with a population of less than half a million, Muller brutally exposed the weakness of Roddick’s backhand and repelled his 150mph serve with a remarkable 65 outright winners.
Having trailed 5-2 in the first set, Muller won the respective tie-breaks 7-4, 10-8 and 7-1 against the man with the hardest serve in the sport’s history.
In contrast to Roddick, men’s top seed Roger Federer picked up where he left off last year, starting his title defence with a ruthless first-round defeat of Czech Ivo Minar.
A year ago, Federer crushed Lleyton Hewitt in the final and the Swiss top seed’s 61-minute, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Minar sent out an ominous warning to those who covet his US crown.
Women’s second seed Lindsay Davenport, third seed Amelie Mauresmo and French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne also advanced to the second round without dropping a set.
Federer had played only one tournament since completing a hat trick of Wimbledon titles in July but looked in peak form from the start against Minar, lashing forehand winners at will.
World number one Davenport had to work hard for a 6-4, 6-4 win over a determined Li Na of China in the first evening session match.
Together with Belgian Kim Clijsters, former world number one Mauresmo is the most-gifted women’s player still looking for a Grand Slam title and the Frenchwoman was too strong for Roberta Vinci, beating the Italian 6-3, 6-2.
Mauresmo faces a tricky second-round opponent, however, in Bulgarian 16-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva.
Seventh seed Henin-Hardenne ensured there was no repeat of her shock first round exit at Wimbledon in June with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 win over Czech Zuzana Ondraskova.
Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva, the runner-up last year, recovered from a slow start to quell another Czech, Lucie Safarova, 7-5, 6-3.
Henman, the 12th seed, slumped to a dismal 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
The loss means the 30-year-old, who was hampered by a painful back injury, will tumble down the men’s rankings because he reached the last four here last year.
Rusedski, the 28th seed, was beaten in three sets by in-form American James Blake, the winner at New Haven on Sunday.
Murray bravely overcame Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, having vomited apparently from exhaustion early in the fifth set.
Pavel, ranked 83 places above the 18-year-old, was later penalised a point for swearing at the umpire following an over-rule.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS:
Men’s singles:
First round: 16-Radek Stepanek bt Nicolas Lapentti 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-1; Jarkko Nieminen bt Karol Beck 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 0-6, 7-5; Albert Montanes bt Victor Hanescu 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-1 — Hanescu retired; Peter Wessels bt Christophe Rochus 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 11-David Nalbandian bt Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-2, 7-5, 6-4; Davide Sanguinetti bt Wayne Arthurs 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(3); Gustavo Kuerten bt Paul Goldstein 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(3); Stanislas Wawrinka bt Rajeev Ram 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-7(2), 7-5; Novak Djokovic bt Gael Monfils 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5), 0-6, 7-5; Fabrice Santoro bt Juergen Melzer 6-2, 6-1, 6-3; James Blake bt 28-Greg
Rusedski 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3; 31-Carlos Moya bt Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4, 2-1 — Llodra retired; Rainer Schuettler bt Potito Starace 6-1, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4); Paul Capdeville bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; 26-Feliciano Lopez bt Filippo Volandri 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1; 22-Mario Ancic bt Hyung-Taik Lee 6-2, 6-1, 7-5; Sebastien Grosjean bt Oscar Hernandez 6-2, 6-3, 6-2; Fernando Verdasco bt 12-Tim Henman 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; Vince Spadea bt Glenn Weiner 6-4, 6-2, 6-0; 1-Roger Federer bt Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-1, 6-1; Gilles Muller bt 4-Andy Roddick 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 7-6(1); Bobby Ginepri bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(5); 6-Nikolay Davydenko bt Tomas Zib 6-2, 6-0, 6-4; Paradorn Srichaphan bt Younes El Aynaoui 6-4, 6-3, 6-0; Florent Serra bt Stefan Koubek 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 30-Max Mirnyi bt Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 7-5, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov bt Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-2; 21-Fernando Gonzalez bt Wesley Moodie 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; Andy Murray bt Andrei Pavel 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Bjoern Phau bt Alexander Popp 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; Arnaud Clement bt 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 7-5, 6-1; 27-Olivier Rochus bt Robin Vik 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer bt Jiri Vanek 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
Women’s singles:
First round: 27-Gisela Dulko bt Stephanie Foretz 6-3, 6-2; Vania King bt Klara Koukalova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Maria Sanchez Lorenzo bt Angela Haynes 7-5, 7-6(6); Amy Frazier bt Carly Gullickson 6-4, 7-5; Mariana Diaz-Oliva bt Bethanie Mattek 6-4, 6-3; 13-Anastasia Myskina bt Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-1; 6-Elena Dementieva bt Lucie Safarova 7-5, 6-3; 7-Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Zuzana Ondraskova 6-3, 6-0; 15-Nathalie Dechy bt Severine Beltrame 6-4, 7-5; Magdalena Maleeva bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-1, 6-3; 19-Elena Likhovtseva bt Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-1; Yoon Jeong Cho bt Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-4,
2-6, 6-4; 3-Amelie Mauresmo bt Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-2; Sesil Karatantcheva bt Meghann Shaughnessy 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Evgenia Linetskaya bt Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; 17-Jelena Jankovic bt Denisa Chladkova 7-5, 6-3; Alexa Glatch bt Yuliana Fedak 6-4, 6-3; 24-Shinobu Asagoe beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1, 6-4; Martina Sucha bt Sybille Bammer 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Jill Craybas bt Jamea Jackson 6-4, 2-6, 7-5; Pauline Parmentier bt Antonella Serra Zanetti 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; 12-Mary Pierce bt Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-4; 29-Anna Chakvetadze bt Viktoriya Kutuzova 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; 2-Lindsay Davenport bt Na Li 6-4, 6-4; Anna Smashnova bt Sandra Kloesel 6-3, 6-3; 23-
Tatiana Golovin bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5); 31-Anna-Lena Groenefeld bt Kristina Brandi 6-2, 6-3; bt Abigail Spears 7-6(6), 6-3; 11-Patty Schnyder bt Conchita Martinez 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; 32-Anabel Medina Garrigues bt Karolina Sprem 6-2, 6-3; Katarina Srebotnik bt Su-Wei Hsieh 6-0, 6-2; Tiantian Sun bt Samantha Stosur 6-3, 7-6(4).—Reuters
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