Former US Open winners Safin, Federer advance on Day Two

Sometimes one bad call can cost you the rest of the match, but that was not the case for former World No. 1 Marat Safin (pictured) on Tuesday on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court. Up two sets to one over American Vince Spadea and on the verge of victory, Safin was called for a foot fault on a second serve in the middle of a critical fourth set. Safin burst into flames as he threw down his racquet and stormed off the court searching for Tournament Referee Brian Earley to argue the questionable call. The outburst cost him the fourth, but he was able to rebound quickly as he broke Spadea to start the final set and never looked back, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to advance to the second round. Despite a lackluster serving performance by the former top-ranked player in which he made only 54 percent of his serves, while hitting ten doubles faults and only eight aces, Safin was able to control majority of the baseline rallies. Safin earned his 20th win of the season and a berth in the 2nd round for the third straight year. With a victory in his next match against No. 15 seed Tommy Robredo, the 2000 US Open champion will earn his 400th career victory.

In the final match of a busy day two, World No. 2 and four-time defending champion Roger Federer hammered No. 118 ranked qualifier Maximo Gonzalez, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, in the Argentine’s US Open debut. Just about flawless throughout, Federer smashed 15 aces and converted on seven of 13 break point chances. This is the first time since the 2004 Australian Open that Federer is not the top seed. At that grand slam event in Melbourne, he was seeded No. 2 and won the event by defeating Marat Safin in the finals. Federer is looking to win a fifth straight US Open crown, which is an open era record. Federer next faces Brazilian qualifier Thiago Alves, who won a thrilling five set match over Chilean Paul Capdeville.

Others winners on Day Two in New York:
No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) def. Ivan Navarro (ESP) 7-6(3), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5)
Tommy Haas (GER) def. No. 12 Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-7(3), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2
No. 13 Fernando Verdasco (ESP) def. Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
No. 14 Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Jan Minar (CZE) 7-5, 6-1, 6-4
No. 15 Tommy Robredo (ESP) def. Mischa Zverev (GER) 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-1
Ivo Minar (CZE) def. No. 20 Nicolas Kiefer (GER) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 4-1 ret.
Sam Querrey (USA) def. No. 22 Tomas Berdych (CZE) 6-3, 6-1, 6-2
No. 23 Igor Andreev (RUS) def. Marc Gicquel (FRA) 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-4
No. 24 Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) def. Sebastian Grosjean (FRA) 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2
No. 31 Andreas Seppi (ITA) def. Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3
Mardy Fish (USA) def. Robert Smeets (AUS) 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4

Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) def. Scoville Jenkins (USA) 6-3, 6-3, 7-5