Roger Federer eased past Grega Zemlja 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 on Tuesday as the seventh seed and five-time winner began with a convincing victory at the US Open.
Federer, who is fighting to turn a poor season around after problems including back pain, an aborted switch to a new racket and a lack of titles, appeared much like his old dominating self in the 93-minute win over the Slovenian.
The Swiss with a record 17 Grand Slam titles ended with 35 winners and broke on five of 11 chances while sending over 12 aces.
“It felt good, and it’s nice to be back in New York,” said the player who had been set to open on Tuesday night in a match postponed by rain.
“Day or night, it doesn’t really matter. The wind was a bit of an issues but we adjusted.
“Conditions were tricky, we both struggled with rhythm but I’m happy to be through to the next round.” Federer got through a hiccup in the third set when he lost serve for 4-all before getting it back and earning the victory on a second match point, a perfect volley into the far corner.
“I got but broken but there is no choice but to stay calm. I was up two sets to love, thee was no reason to panic. I had to fight a bit more, maybe that give me confidence also.” He next plays Argentine Carlos Berlocq, who beat Santiago Giraldo, Colombia, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2.
Top seed Novak Djokovic rolled over Ricardas Berankis 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 for an opening win.
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych came up a winner over Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-4, 6-1; 10th seed Milos Raonic, hoping to get past the fourth round of a major for the first time in his career, hammered 28 aces to beat Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
The Canadian will next play Spain’s Pablo Andujar, a winner over Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Four other seeds split the difference, with number 12 German Tommy Haas putting out fellow over-30 Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 and American number 13 John Isner hammering Filippo Volandri 6-0, 6-2, 6-3. Argentine Maximo Gonzalez put out Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz, as the 14th seed suffered with a back injury, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Denis Istomin upset 15th seed Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Women's Singles
In women’s play, second seed Victoria Azarenka produced a crushing of German Dinah Pfizenmaier, 6-0, 6-0.
Italian number four Sara Errani did the same to Australian Olivia Rogowska while former number one Caroline Wozniacki beat China’s Duan Ying-Ying 6-2, 7-5.
There were also opening wins for number 10 Roberta Vinci, 13th seed Ana Ivanovic and number 14 Maria Kirilenko.
Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova survived a fightback from Japan’s Misaki Doi before posting a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday.
It was the 2011 Wimbledon winner’s second win over the Asian this season, having beat her on clay in Poland in the spring.
Kvitova advanced with nearly twice as many winners as her opponent, 29 to 15, but struck 29 unforced errors in the win lasting just under two hours.
The winner was challenged by windy conditions.
“The wind was quite difficult for us, but it was same conditions for both. It wasn’t an easy match for first round. It’s always tricky and difficult, so I’m glad that I’m through. I never play well in the America, and last year I play well when I won the US Open Series and played fourth round here (2012).