Tomas Berdych shook off some of his slump as he beat the draw’s most dangerous floater Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Berdych started off well, winning the first set 6-3 as the dry and fast conditions suited his game, but was then broken at the start of the second and fell 1-4 behind. The prospect of going down to Hewitt quickly snapped him out of his bad patch and the sixth seed won five straight games to take the set.
Berdych broke again at the start of the third, and though Hewitt managed to break past at 2-3 down, Berdych then ran off another three games, taking the match with a big serve down the tee and a forehand winner of the short ball.
The Czech will need those weapons when it comes to his second round match with Martin Klizan. Klizan is a known giant killer (d. Tsonga US Open ’12, d. Nishikori Roland Garros ’14), and if he finds himself up 4-1 to Berdych, he won’t let that lead slip. Berdych, however looked to be stronger than his previous U.S Open Series matches as he leveled his won-losses to 3-3 this Summer hard court swing and will feel confident of surviving another difficult road in his U.S Open draw.
While Berdych looked strong towards the end of his match, there were players all over Flushing Meadows having to retire. Marcos Baghdatis had to give up against Maric Cilic when trailing a set and 1-3. Ivan Dodig led Feliciano Lopez 2 sets to 1 before injury got to him and he had to pull out at the start of the fifth set. And Steve Johnson had to retire down 1-4 in the fourth to Japan’s Tatsuma Ito.
Grigor Dimitrov moved into the second round after beating American wild card Ryan Harrison 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Harrison looked up for taking the second set but his chance was blown at 4-5 in the tiebreak when he had Dimitrov on the run, came in to put away a short ball on the forehand, but sent it flying long.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka got through a testy match against Thomas Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1). Bellucci hit big and threatened to take the match into a fifth. He was helped a little by the crowd as one fan shouted between serves with Wawrinka serving late in the fourth. Wawrinka told the man to ‘shut up’ which drew applause from the crowd. Controlling the crowd, Wawrinka then got his game in order, played a great tiebreak and closed out the match.
Young hope Dominic Thiem made it through to the second round after beating Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. He will meet 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in what should be the most intriguing match of the second round. Gulbis, the 11th seed, slipped quietly into the second round after defeating Kenny De Schepper 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Gulbis is still an unknown quantity slam wise despite his run to the French Open semis. He lost to De Schepper in his first match after than run at Queens, and has gone 3-4 overall since Paris. He could have won or lost his first round match in New York, but he woke up feeling in the mood, hitting 35 winners to 22 errors and making 22 net approaches, winning 17 of them. Perhaps he was motivated by the prospect of meeting practice partner and friend Thiem in the next round. Speculation, but Gulbis is the kind of player whose erratic nature encourages it.
Another young player to make it through to the second round was David Goffin, the recent Bet-at-home Cup winner. Since Wimbledon, Goffin has gone 25-1 and hit win 26 as he beat fellow Belgian Niels Desein 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. He will face 32nd seed Joao Sousa in the next round in the first meeting between the pair, the reward being a potential match with seventh seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Seeds Kevin Anderson and Fabio Fognini were other players to advance on day 3 of the U.S Open.
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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