Fish, Nalbandian advance; two seeds fall at US Open

In his ninth appearance in New York, American Mardy Fish finally advanced to the third round, defeating No. 24 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The win marked Fish’s first win over the Frenchman after two unsuccessful tries last season, both at hard court Masters Series events. Fish, currently ranked No. 35 in the world, put on a stellar serving performance as he smashed 27 aces without hitting a double fault. The hard-hitting righty currently ranks second in total aces in the men’s draw with 42, trailing only Croatian Ivo Karlovic who has hit 70. This afternoon, Fish was able to win 60 percent of his serve throughout the match, including 85 percent on his first serve. After two rounds, Fish has won 109 of 134 points when making his first serve. Mathieu struggled tremendously on serve, as he tossed in eight double faults compared to six aces.

Fish, a Tampa, Fla. resident, broke Mathieu’s serve on four occasions and was only broken once on his own serve. Currently coached by former tennis legend Mats Wilander, Mathieu had no answers for Fish today, as he saw all four of his challenges overturned. Fish next meets close friend James Blake for a spot in the fourth round. While they are good friends, they will need to put their friendship aside on the court in the next round as both compete for one spot in the fourth round. It will be the fourth meeting between the two, all of which have occurred on hard courts, with Blake leading the series 2-1. Blake earned his way into the third round when opponent Steve Darcis pulled out with a lower back injured. The American was leading the Belgian, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 at the time of the injury. No matter who wins the Blake-Fish contest, Blake will be taking part in Fish’s Sept. 28th wedding to attorney Stacey Gardner, a briefcase model on the TV show “Deal or No Deal.”

Former World No. 3 and 2003 semifinalist, David Nalbandian (pictured) trounced Andrey Golubev, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the 3rd round for the second straight year. Winning his 28th match of a lightly planned season, the No. 7 seed from Argentina only committed 14 unforced errors compared to Golubev’s 41. Nalbandian won 34 of 39 first serve points, while capitalizing on six of nine break point chances and thus earning himself a total of 11 service breaks in two routine victories. He next meets exciting young Frenchman Gael Monfils, a 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, winner over Russian Evgeny Korolev.

Others winners on Day Four in New York:
No. 1 Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Ryler DeHeart (USA) 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 David Ferrer (ESP) def. Andreas Beck (GER) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(5)
No. 6 Andy Murray (GBR) def. Michael Llodra (FRA) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7)
No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) def. Wayne Odesnik (USA) 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-2
No. 14 Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Florent Serra (FRA) 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2
No. 16 Gilles Simon (FRA) def. Jose Acasuso (ARG) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4
No. 17 Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) def. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3
Viktor Troicki (SRB) def. No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-0, ret.

Sam Querrey (USA) def. Nicolas Devilder (FRA) 7-6(6), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3