Justine Henin, Roger Federer Win Opening Round Matches at US Open

27 August 2007 -- Top seeds Roger Federer of Switzerland and Justine Henin of Belgium have won their opening round matches at the U.S. Open in New York, the final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year.

Roger Federer is seeking to become the first man in the Open era to win four straight titles in the U.S championship and first since Bill Tilden in 1923. Roger Federer faced only two break points Monday in beating American Scoville Jenkins, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

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Despite serving seven double-faults, the world number one Justine Henin rolled over German qualifier Julia Goerges, 6-0, 6-3.

The men lost their first seed when Feliciano Lopez upset fellow Spanaird and number 21 Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Later, Max Mirnyi of Belarus beat 18th seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6. American John Isner eliminated number 26 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.

The first women's seed to be eliminated was Samantha Stosur. Alize Cornet of France upset the 29th seeded Australian, 6-3, 6-2. Russian Vera Dushevina toppled number 25 Italian Mara Santangelo, 6-2, 6-3.

Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia also made it to the second round, beating Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia, 6-2, 7-6. Number 10 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli easily advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win over American Alexa Glatch.

Other women's seeds advancing included number 15 Dinara Safina of Russia, 19th-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria and number 20 Lucia Safarova of the Czech Republic.

In men's play, fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko routed American teenager Jesse Levine, 6-4, 6-0, 6-1, while number 9 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Marc Gicquel of France (6-3, 7-6, 6-2).

Frenchman Richard Gasquet, the 13th seed, downed Argentine Sergio Roitman (7-5, 6-1, 6-2), but a pair of seeds were also upset victims. Max Mirnyi of Belarus battled past 18th-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus (6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6), while Feliciano Lopez surprised number 21 fellow-Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero (6-3, 6-4, 6-4).

--By VOA Sports

(Some information for this report was provided by AP and Bloomberg.)

Source: VOANews.com