Roddick Backhanded, Federer Wins Easily at US Open

"I have no idea (how I won)," Muller said. "It was just unbelievable to come out here today. It was the first time I was playing at night (on the) stadium in a Grand Slam. Before the match I told myself to go out there and enjoy it. And I did."

Muller delivered 24 aces to Roddick's 17, and confirmed his giant-killing status after just months ago beating Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. The loss also highlighted Roddick's amazing fall-off with his record in tiebreaks, from the player who was once master of the art of the 'breaker. Another stat shocker: Roddick had only seven forehand winners in the match, and a grand total two off the backhand side.

"Backhands, I didn't hit it well tonight," said a simmering Roddick in his post-match conference. "You're absolutely correct."

Muller concurred.

"I have to say it -- I don't think he played his best match," Muller said. "He had some problems with his backhand, and I took advantage of it."

Earlier in the day world No. 1 Roger Federer rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and Czech Ivo Minar out of the tournament, advancing into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win in just over an hour.

"I don't play much in the morning any more," Federer said. "Mostly play the prime time hours, which means three, five, seven o'clock. Coming out early today was different. Also when I practice, it's usually always afternoon. So, again, you have to change your plans. But it was a great start."

Other seeded winners in opening-round matches were (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Zib), (11) David Nalbandian (d. Bogomolov Jr.), (16) Radek Stepanek (d. N.Lapentti), (22) Mario Ancic (d. H.-T. Lee), (26) Feliciano Lopez (d. Volandri in four), (27) Olivier Rochus (d. Vik in four), (30) Max Mirnyi (d. Gimelstob), and (31) Carlos Moya (d. Llodra who retired in the third with heat exhaustion).

Three seeds met their demise Tuesday in Brits (12) Tim Henman (l. to Verdasco) and (28) Greg Rusedski (l. to Blake), and former No. 1 and No. 20 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero (l. to Clement 6-1 in the third).

"I knew that my back wasn't great, but after the practice I had for three-quarters of an hour on Sunday and then a bit longer yesterday, I felt like it was moving in the right direction," said Henman who had been receiving treatment for a back injury since arriving in New York. "But I just think there's always that difference between practice and matches. You know, you've got to go after shots a bit more."

Qualifier Andy Murray (d. Pavel in five) now remains the only British hope, joined by other unseeded winners Rainer Schuettler (d. Starace in three), Nicolas Kiefer (d. Vanek) and Bjorn Phau (d. countryman Popp) of Germany, Chileans Fernando Gonzalez (d. Moodie in four) and Paul Capdeville (d. Mathieu in four), France's Fabrice Santoro (d. Melzer), Sebastien Grosjean (d. O.Hernandez) and Florent Serra (d. Koubek in four), Spaniard Albert Montanes (d. Hanescu who retired with heat exhaustion), Italian Davide Sanguinetti (d. Arthurs), Dutchman Peter Wessels (d. C.Rochus in four), Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Beck in five), Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Baghdatis), Serb Novak Djokovic (d. Monfils in five), Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka (d. R.Ram in five), Americans Vincent Spadea (d. Weiner 6-0 in the third) and Robby Ginepri (d. Garcia-Lopez), former No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten (d. Goldstein in four), and Thai Paradorn Srichaphan (d. El Aynaoui).

"I was a little bit tired at the beginning of the final set, so I started to drink (an energy drink) and always when I drink it I start to feel a little bit sick," said Murray, who hurled on-court near the end of his match with Pavel. "I took too much and felt like I was going to burp, then yuk! It's very tough to go and hold your serve after taking a break as long as that but I got back on track."

Pavel was gracious in defeat and praised the 18-year-old Murray.

"Of the young generation there are a few guys that are playing very good -- you should put Murray in with (Rafael) Nadal I guess," Pavel said. "He played a very good match and I couldn't get my rhythm going with his game. He played really smart, with a lot of slow balls that I don't like."

The fan-favorite Kuerten earned a rare win, coming into the Open with a 4-8 record on the year.

"For me, every moment is a different situation. Maybe in 2000, '99, I could come here and win a match, it would be one match for me, not a good result. But right now, it's important because I'm able to play another match," said Kuerten, who doesn't even have a clothing contract these days. "Basically, I have no contracts, so I try to find different shirts. In Brazil, I have a friend that is making them for me. Every tournament I'm using a different shirt."

The Serb Djokovic had three injury time-outs in his five-set win over fellow teen Monfils, suffering breathing problems at the beginning of the second set, a sore shoulder in the fourth set, and cramping in his calves in the fifth set.

"The timeouts helped me a lot," Djokovic said. "He was physically better prepared than me...I have problems with my shoulder. I have problems breathing. But every timeout I had a reason. Cramps in my back, cramps in my leg, my shoulder. The weather was so bad, it was so humid. I felt like giving up in the fourth set...I'm really sorry because Gael is a real good friend of mine. But I had to do it."

The heat claimed a number of victims on the day, with France's Llodra collapsing unconscious on some outside-court bleacher seats on the way to the locker room after retiring against Moya.

Scheduled for the men on Wednesday are (3) Hewitt vs. Costa in a battle of slam champs, (2) Nadal vs. Jenkins, Burgsmuller vs. (25) Taylor "Acci-" Dent, Philippoussis vs. Kucera, Carlsen vs. Almagro, Lammer vs. K.Kim, Acasuso vs. Luis Horna, (17) Ferrer vs. Calleri, Seppi vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, and in doubles highlights Argentines (14) Etlis/Rodriguez vs. Spaniards Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez and Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco.