Clijsters survives a scare

Defending champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium overcame a second-set scare to defeat Greta Arn of Hungary 6-0 7-5 in the first round of the US Open on Monday.

Clijsters sailed through an 18-minute opening set on Arthur Ashe centre court but fell behind 4-0 in the second before roaring back to seize command. The second-seed then ran off 12 straight points to draw 4-3,then broke in the 10th game and again in the last to close out the match. Clijsters next meets Australian qualifier Sally Peers,who advanced with a 6-0 6-1 victory over Canadas Aleksandra Wozniak.

French Open winner Francesca Schiavone made light work of her first round opponent,easing through to the second round. The Italian barely broke sweat on a baking hot day as she beat Japans Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-0 in under an hour to get the years last Grand Slam off to a flying start.

She was joined in the second round minutes later by unseeded American teenager Melanie Oudin,who had the honour of playing her tournament opener on the Arthur Ashe centre court,given her unexpected run to the quarter-finals last year.

Oudin has struggled to reach those dizzy heights this year,winning just one match at the years three other Grand Slams,but the familiarity of the US Open hardcourts brought out her best as she dumped Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk 6-3 6-0.

The 18-year-old,at number 43 in the world and third highest ranked American woman behind Serena and Venus Williams,found her bearings after being level at 3-3 in the first set and won the last nine games.

Elsewhere,twelfth-seed Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1 6-2 while Italys Francesca Schiavone wrapped up an easy win against Japans Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-0. Elena Baltacha of Britain beat Croatias Petra Martic 6-2 6-2.

Davydenko,Cilic in Round 2

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In the mens section,sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia opened his US Open title campaign with a solid 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory over American Michael Russell.

The Russian,twice a semifinalist but still making his way back after a wrist injury this year,recovered from a slow start to cruise through in two hours,21 minutes. Davydenko won the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London last November but is still chasing his first Grand Slam title and has not reached the last four of any Grand Slam since the 2007 US Open. The 29-year-old has struggled since returning to action in June after 11 weeks out with a broken left wrist,winning back-to-back matches for the first time in Cincinnati two weeks ago.

World number 80 Russell had never won a match in five previous US Opens but looked in the mood for an upset when he broke the Russians serve early on his way to a 4-2 lead. But Davydenko pulled himself together and won four straight games to take the opening set before ripping through the second set losing just one game. Russell lifted his game again but Davydenko broke in the third game of the third set and repeated the feat in the eighth game for victory.

Next up is Frenchman Richard Gasquet,a 6-3 6-4 6-2 winner over Simon Greul of Germany. In other games,Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain beat Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-1 6-3 6-0,Croatias Marin Cilic beat Illy Marchenko of Ukraine 7-5 6-3 6-1,Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker won against Marc Gicquel of France 6-4 7-5 6-2 while Kei Nishikori of Japan was leading 7-6 5-2 against Kazakhistans Evgeny Korolev when the latter retired.