Roddick stays up late for easy first-round win

Because of an opening-night ceremony featuring Andre Agassi,followed by a victory by Venus Williams that lasted more than two and a half hours,Roddick was forced to wait until after 11 pm on Monday night to get on court in Arthur Ashe Stadium. He then made quick work of Phau,beating him 6-1,6-4,6-2.

Venus Williams had to dig deep to avoid one of the most shocking upsets of her illustrious career as she beat little-known Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7 7-5 6-3 in a marathon. Williams was down a set and a service break before hitting her stride late in the match to overpower 47th-ranked Dushevina.

On Tuesday,seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France easily beat 18-year-old Chase Buchanan of the United States 6-0 6-2 6-1. Igor Andreev,seeded 29th,put up a poor display in a 6-4 6-0 6-2 loss to unseeded American Jesse Witten.

Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova cruised to a 6-3 6-2 victory over Julia Goerges of Germany. The sixth seed came from a break down in the first set to claim a comfortable win over the world number 92. Goerges has won just one grand slam match but a shock looked possible when she won three successive games to lead by a break at 3-2. But the Russian lifted her game to win eight straight games on her way to clinching a second-round meeting with Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand or Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.

Key results:

Mens singles first round: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA bt Chase Buchanan USA 6-0 6-2 6-1; Jesse Witten USA bt Igor Andreev RUS 6-4 6-0 6-2.

Womens singles first round: Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS bt Julia Goerges GER 6-3 6-2; Caroline Wozniacki DEN bt Galina Voskoboeva KAZ 6-4 6-0; Sorana Cirstea ROU bt Ayumi Morita JPN 6-1 6-3; Yanina Wickmayer BEL bt Virginie Razzano FRA 6-4 6-3; Alona Bondarenko UKR bt Alla Kudryavtseva RUS 3-6 6-3 6-2; Patty Schnyder SUI bt Lucie Safarova CZE 4-6 6-3 7-6 6;