Roddick and Gimelstob Entertain Under Lights at US Open

Posted on August 29, 2007

Blake, Roddick Post Opening Wins at US Open

No. 6 seed James Blake has a good chance of overtaking countryman Andy Roddick to once again become the No. 1-ranked American during this US Open, and Tuesday he took his first step with a hard-earned 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-6(4) win over baseline grinder Mike Russell of the U.S.


Calm and collected as usual in his post-match conference, Blake nonetheless was in the danger zone in the opening set and needed to fight off two set points, at one point sprinting to switch sides during the tiebreak after Russell stoned a sitter forehand on set point.

"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 going to win them," Blake said. "I just have that confidence."

Russell rued his lost opportunities.

"I mean, a short forehand [at] 6-5, I mean, you got to make that," Russell said. "I put it I think in the middle of the net. Obviously, if I would have won the first set tiebreaker it would have changed things a little bit."

The No. 5-seeded Roddick showed he won't give up the American top spot easily, beating good friend Justin Gimelstob 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-3 to take the first step toward a potential quarterfinal meeting with world No. 1 Roger Federer. Roddick's potential rankings drop comes as he defends US Open runner-up points from last year, but the player with one of the most potent serves and forehands on tour was too much for Gimelstob, who played his last US Open.

"He let me hang in there for a set," said Gimelstob, who reveled in some on-court storytelling and lengthy applause after the match.

Roddick was also finally able to relax after admitting to a tense run-up to the match.

"We're going to miss one of the funniest guys on tour," Roddick said of Gimelstob's retirement. "You always leave it all out there, and that's what you did tonight."

Other seeded winners were (3) Novak Djokovic (d. Haase), (12) Ivan Ljubicic (d. Vliegen), (15) David Ferrer (d. Mayer), (16) Lleyton Hewitt (d. Delic), (20) Juan Ignacio Chela (d. McClune), (23) Juan Monaco (d. Roger-Vasselin in four), (24) David Nalbandian (d. Navarro Pastor), and (31) Jurgen Melzer (d. Hartfield).

Orchestrating upsets on the day were Frenchmen Michael Llodra (d. (29) Volandri in four) and Arnaud Clement (d. (32) Karlovic 7-6 in the fifth).

Unseeded Americans were a mixed bag Tuesday, as wildcard Wayne Odesnik beat Thai Danai Udomchoke 7-6 in the fifth, but Sam Querrey was soundly beaten 7-6(1), 6-1, 6-1 by Austrian scamperer Stefan Koubek.

Tuesday's attendance again broke the all-time record according to USTA officials.

Wednesday highlights at the US Open are (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (WC) Alun Jones, (1) Roger Federer vs. Chilean Paul Capdeville (night match), (25) Marat Safin vs. (Q) Frank Dancevic, and (27) Dmitry Tursunov vs. Tim Henman.

Sharapova Makes Fashion Statement, Hantuchova Loses at US Open

Choose your favorite women's story Tuesday at the US Open: a) the debut of Maria Sharapova's red dress; b) top 10 seed Daniela Hantuchova making a first-round exit.

Sharapova kicked off the night session in a flattering red Nike dress with sparkling gems in cascading waves below an elegantly draping neckline -- and that skinny Slovak girl lost. Sharapova beat Roberta Vinci 6-0, 6-1, while Hantuchova ran out of gas mentally 6-1 in the third against Julia Vakulenko.

"When you feel good about what you're wearing and you feel good about putting it on, you know what it's like," Sharapova said. "Put on a nice outfit and some makeup and you're the bomb."

Additional seeded players into the second round Tuesday were (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (d. Zakopalova), (6) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Weinhold), (7) Nadia Petrova (d. Bacsinszky), (11) Patty Schnyder (d. Benesova, bagel in the second), (13) Nicole Vaidisova (d. Kudryavtseva), (16) Martina Hingis (d. M.Johansson, bagel in the first), (18) Shahar Peer (d. Tu), (22) Katarina Srebotnik (d. Molik), (24) Francesca Schiavone (d. Dechy), (26) Sania Mirza (d. Kanepi 6-1 in the third), (30) Agnieszka Radwanska (d. Morigami), (31) Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Wozniak), and (32) Michaella Krajicek (d. Brianti, bagel in the second).

In the only other upset on the day, Dominika Cibulkova topped (23) Tathiana Garbin.

Wednesday's highlights are (5) Ana Ivanovic vs. French comer Aravane Rezai, (12) Venus Williams vs. Ioana Raluca Olaru, (8) Serena Williams vs. Maria Elena Camerin, (1) Justine Henin vs. Tsvetana Pironkova, and American Ahsha Rolle vs. Karin Knapp.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Billie Jean King is launching GreenSlam, an eco-conscious initiative to harness the power of sports, beginning with tennis, to create socially responsible change with positive environmental impact. "I'm challenging myself -- the industry of sports, professional athletes and fans, to take positive action to help counter the negative effects of climate change," King said. "It's simple, if the billions of people who live and love sports take just one single step -- we can help win back our planet." As an initial action, King's GreenSlam has teamed with Adopt-A-Highway to support the maintenance of a section of the Whitestone Expressway near the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. GreenSlam intends to implement similar efforts around other sport complexes in the coming months...From WTA tour player Liezel Huber's blog: "This morning started early. I had to make a run to the courts. My husband has a stringing business. They string for a lot of the players all year round. How I am involved is that I have to drop the racquets off in their lockers...So every morning starts the same for me. I get up at 7am and have a car booked for 7:45am. I get there, do my drop-offs and then head back to the hotel. I am back at 9:45am and then grab a bagel and juice at the local deli (and of course breakfast for my husband)."...U.S. tennis writer Matt Cronin is not too high on John Isner, who if he wins Wednesday at the US Open will face Roger Federer next: "Outside of his serve, what's really to get excited about from this gentle, 6-foot-9 giant? Not too much. For his size, he has very little upper body strength. He can't flatten a pancake with his two-handed backhand and doesn't have tremendous stick on his forehand, although that's the side he favors. He's a humdrum volleyer, even though he's willing to lope to the net a lot. He doesn't return well at all. Isner is so much a work in progress that at times during his win, it boggled the mind as to how is able to win any level of match on the ATP Tour, but as thousand folks have already said, you can't teach height and the trajectory on his serve in frightening. As the Finn found out, on a good serving day, he's unbreakable. And if he can hold every time and take care of his service points in tiebreaks, he has shot every time out, beauty be dammed."...Tim Henman telling the BBC about trying to make his Wednesday match against Dmitry Tursunov at the US Open not be his last: "My back feels pretty good and I'm itching to get back out on court and try for another win here. Dmitry can be tough to play against because he makes it difficult to get into any kind of rhythm."...Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Jamie Murray and Jamie Baker have been named to the British Davis Cup team that will face Croatia in September.