Nadal opens with three-hour encounter

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal got a stern test from 93rd-ranked Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia at the US Open and needed three minutes short of 3 hours to defeat him.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal got a stern test from 93rd-ranked Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia at the US Open and needed three minutes short of 3 hours to defeat him 7-6 4,7-6 4,6-3.

I prefer to play 1 hour,10 minutes. Win easier,no? Nadal said after his match on Tuesday. But no,one match is easy,especially in a big tournament. The pressures there. You play against players that dont have much to lose,so they play aggressive. This is difficult to stop. Nadals match ended at 11:34 pm on Tuesday,and left the top-seeded woman,Caroline Wozniacki,to finish out the night with a 6-1,6-1 victory over Chelsey Gullickson in the only meeting,of the five on the feature court,that didnt have much drama.

The matches before me were so long. Nobody expected that, said Wozniacki,who traded off between watching Nadal,reading a magazine and running in the gym while she waited. But a win is a win. It doesnt matter what time I get on. As long as I win,Im happy.

By the time Nadal took to the court,the sun had long gone down,while Gabashvili also did plenty to keep things uncomfortable. Against a first-round foe,there were a total of seven break points through the first 32 games and neither player could convert. Nadal did what great players do winning a few more key points in both tiebreakers to take a two-set lead.

But not until Gabashvili netted a forehand in the seventh game of the third set did Nadal find a crack in his opponents service game,and the opening he needed to close it out in straight sets.

There were plenty of opportunities. No. 14 Maria Sharapova got off to a slow start in Arthur Ashe Stadium before rallying for a 4-6,6-3,6-1 over Jarmila Groth of Australia. Days like this where your opponent was playing really well,you really have to find ways to hang in there and ways to fight, Sharapova said. And at the end of the day,you just hope you give yourself another opportunity.

Another long one in Ashe Stadium was No. 3 Novak Djokovics 6-3,3-6,2-6,7-5,6-3 victory over friend and fellow Serbian Viktor Troicki. The match took 3 hours,40 minutes and Djokovic felt the heat. You kind of start panicking a little bit when you dont feel great physically and your opponent takes advantage, he said.

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Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was upset by local hope Ryan Harrison 6-3,6-7,6-3,6-4. Also needing five sets was No. 8 Fernando Verdasco,who defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy,1-6,7-5,6-1,4-6,6-3. No. 19 Mardy Fish had a bizarre five-set win against Jan Hajek. The score: 6-0,3-6,4-6,6-0,6-1. No. 31 No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis lost in five to Arnaud Clement of France.