No. 3 Djokovic in top form in the Big Apple

No. 3 seed and last year’s runner-up Novak Djokovic (pictured) started his 2008 US Open campaign on the right foot, as he advanced without much trouble by defeating Arnaud Clement, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. The last time these two players met was in 2007 on grass with Clement coming out on top, but this afternoon was a whole different story. The young Serbian, who won the Australian Open in January, served up 14 aces and had just 2 doubles faults, while also winning 81 percent of first serve points. Djokovic also held serve the entire match en route to his 50th win of the season. Djokovic had a slight scare when he rolled his left ankle in the third set but after receiving treatment from the tour trainer, he quickly recovered and closed out the match by breaking Clement’s serve for the fourth time. Djokovic next faces American Robert Kendrick, ranked No. 113, who defeated Nicolas Mahut in four tight sets.

Djokovic wasn’t the only ATP jokester advancing on Day Three, as No. 19 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his first match in three months, defeating Spaniard Santiago Ventura, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Tsonga has been sidelined since May when he was forced to withdraw from a semifinal match in Casablanca, Morocco and under went immediate right knee surgery. The 23-year-old is trying to achieve the successful results that led him to a career high No. 11 ranking after a semifinal appearance in Adelaide and a runner-up performance at the Australian Open. The young Frenchman looks to get back to the third round, just like in his first visit to Flushing Meadows last year. Next up for Tsonga is former world No. 1 and 1998 Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya, who edged out a four set win over Aisam-Ul-Haq-Qureshi in his 13th appearance in New York. In their only previous meeting, Tsonga posted a victory over Moya in Beijing in 2004.

Others winners on Day Three in New York:
No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) def. Dudi Sela (ISR) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
No. 18 Nicolas Almagro (ESP) def. Frank Dancevic (CAN) 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
No. 26 Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) def. Eduardo Schwank (ARG) 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5)
No. 28 Radek Stepanek (CZE) def. Potito Starace (ITA) 7-5, 6-3, 6-1
No. 30 Marin Cilic (CRO) def. Julien Benneteau (FRA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-2
Robby Ginepri (USA) def. Amer Delic (USA) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(5)
Chris Guccione (AUS) def. Jesse Levine (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(8)
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. Thomas Johansson (SWE) 7-5, 6-1, 7-6(3)
Sam Warburg (USA) def. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-2, 1-0 ret.

Agustin Calleri (ARG) def. Austin Krajicek (USA) 6-2, 6-2 6-1