Nadal ailing but manages to advance
NEW YORK – Playing on a taped-up knee so painful he almost pulled out of the U.S. Open, Rafael Nadal was hardly at his imposing best Wednesday.
Nadal will need to recover quickly and perform better than he did before eventually earning a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory over Australian wild-card entry Alun Jones.
“I didn’t run too much, no? I can’t move too much,” the No. 2-seeded Nadal said. “Difficult to play like this, especially here.”
Roger Federer had no difficulty at all Wednesday, when he was dressed for a formal affair as he bids to become the first man since the 1920s to claim four consecutive U.S. championships. He strode out for his 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Paul Capdeville in black, head-to-toe: bandanna, wrist band, shirt, shorts, socks and shoes. The shorts even had satin stripes down the sides.
Now Federer faces a much taller task: His third-round opponent is John Isner, the 6-foot-9 American who only a few months ago was playing college tennis for Georgia. With fans barking for their favorite Bulldog, Isner followed up his first-round upset of No. 26 Jarkko Nieminen by beating Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
During an on-court interview, Isner was asked to look ahead to the matchup with Federer.
“Is he good?” Isner said with a knowing laugh.
Like Federer, other past U.S. Open champions in action won in straight sets: Venus and Serena Williams, Justine Henin and Marat Safin. Nadal would love to join that club, and he and Federer have been building quite a rivalry, combining to corral the last 10 Grand Slam titles and meeting in four of the past six major finals.
Nadal is 2-0 against Federer in title matches at Roland Garros. Federer is 2-0 against Nadal in title matches at the All England Club. So the tennis world has been looking forward to a tiebreaker on the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s blue hard court.
Venus Williams wasn’t bothered by the six double-faults or the 20 total unforced errors she had to overcome in a 6-4, 6-2 second-round victory over Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania.
Her sister Serena, also a two-time title winner here, got to the third round by defeating Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 7-5, 6-2 at night.