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Top seeds Roger Federer and Justine Henin put on a dazzling show to kick off the US Open, destroying their bewildered opponents in straight sets on Monday.
Federer, bidding for his fourth successive Open title, blew away American Scoville Jenkins 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, while Henin ousted wide-eyed German Julia Goerges 6-0, 6-3 in 62 minutes.
There were no major upsets on the opening day of the year's final Grand Slam, played on the hardcourts at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.
Venus Williams fired a Grand Slam record-tying 129 mph serve en route to an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Hungarian qualifier Kira Nagy, while her sister Serena had a tougher time but prevailed over Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-3, 7-5.
Top-ranked Federer landed just 60 percent of his first serves and had only a 25-24 edge in winners. But the Swiss was remarkably consistent, committing only 12 unforced errors in the 92-minute match compared to 31 for Jenkins.
"I thought it was a good match, a tough match," said Federer, who, despite his analysis, dominated from the opening point. "I didn't allow my opponent many chances on my serve.
"Unfortunately for him he double faulted quite a bit on break points, which obviously helped. From the baseline, he was tough. He was kind of controlling play.
"So I was just trying to keep the ball in play."
Jenkins, a qualifier, said playing the 26-year-old Federer was "mentally frustrating".
"He just plays you, trying to make you play your worst and he plays his best," the Atlanta native said. "He matches up his strength to your weakness unbelievably."
SCARY INJURY
Henin, a six-times Grand Slam winner and 2003 Open champion, landed only 44 percent of her first serves but she was never broken by her 18-year-old opponent.
The Belgian admitted "there wasn't a lot of rhythm" in the match, mostly due to Goerges's 32 unforced errors.
Henin, 25, continues to nurse a "scary" shoulder injury while trying to win the "most difficult" of the majors.
"It's not my favourite grand slam," she admitted. "It's so, so different. It takes a lot of energy."
Goerges was delighted to play the world's top-ranked player in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"It was a great atmosphere even though I wasn't able to play my best tennis, especially in the first set," she conceded. "Still, it was fun."
Third seed Jelena Jankovic struggled to find her rhythm during a 6-2 7-6 triumph over Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia.
"Today I was really nervous, for some reason," said the Serbian, a semi-finalist in 2006. "I was not that comfortable. I wasn't playing well, was struggling out there.
"But it's always good to have some competition in the first rounds so you kind of wake up and you're ready for the next ones."
Results:
Women's 1st Round:
8-Serena Williams (US) bt Angelique Kerber (Germany) 6-3 7-5
Venus Williams (US) bt Kira Nagy (Hungary) 6-2 6-1
21-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-4 6-3
5-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-1 6-1
14-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (France) 6-4 6-3
19-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-4 6-4
Alize Cornet (France) beat 29-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-3 6-2
20-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Jessica Moore (Australia) 6-3 6-2
1-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Julia Goerges (Germany) 6-0 6-3
10-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Alexa Glatch (US) 6-1 6-1
27-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-0 6-7(5) 6-0
Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Virginia Ruano (Spain) 6-3 7-6(4)
3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) 6-2 7-6(2)
15-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-2, 6-3
28-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Andreja Klepac (Slovenia) 6-3 6-1
Men's 1st round:
Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat 22-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 3-6 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-3
Lee Hyung-Taik (South Korea) beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-7(4) 6-4 7-5 6-7(6) 6-4
28-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Alex Kuznetsov (US) 6-4 6-0 7-6(4)
Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Vince Spadea (US) 6-2 7-6(1) 6-3
John Isner (US) beat 26-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-4
Paul Capdeville (Chile) beat Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 5-7 6-3 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3
Gilles Simon (France) beat Alexander Waske (Germany) 6-4 6-1 (Waske retired)
10-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3 6-4
Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Juan Pablo Guzman (Argentina) 6-3 7-6(4) 6-2
Philipp Petzschner (Germany) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 2-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-1
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Scoville Jenkins (U.S.) 6-3 6-2 6-4
Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat Paul Goldstein (U.S.) 6-1 4-1 (Goldstein retired)
Simone Bolelli (Italy) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-1
9-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Marc Gicquel (France) 6-3 7-6(0) 6-2
Max Mirnyi (Belarus) beat 18-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 6-3 7-5 3-6 7-6(6)
13-Richard Gasquet (France) beat Sergio Roitman (Argentina) 7-5 6-1 6-2
Rik De Voest (South Africa) beat Thierry Ascione (France) 6-2 3-0 (Ascione retired)
Donald Young (US) beat Chris Guccione (Australia) 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 6-3
Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Robert Kendrick (US) 7-6(4) 6-3 6-4
Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat 21-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 6-3 6-4 6-4
4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Jesse Levine (US) 6-4 6-0 6-1
