Nadal and Federer coast through U.S. Open
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Spain's Rafael Nadal routed the rusty Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-2 6-3 in his first-round match at the U.S. Open while world number one Roger Federer advanced to the third round after beating Germany's Simon Greul 6-3 7-5 7-5.
The third-seeded Nadal never faced break point in the 101-minute contest that he won with a near-perfect performance.
Gasquet, who was playing his first main event since Rome in Mayafter serving a two-and-a-half month suspension for testing positive for cocaine, struggled with his fitness as he was roundly beaten by the Spaniard.
Nadal, who missed more than two months after the French Open because of tendinitis in his knees before returning to competition last month, showed no ill effects as he pounded 27 winners while making only 10 errors in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Australian Open champion Nadal will next play Nicolas Kiefer. The German moved on by beating France's Michael Llodra 6-3 6-4 6-4.
Top seed and five-times champion Federer withstood an inspired challenge from Greul before he defeated the pesky journeyman in straight sets.
The 28-year-old Greul squandered two set points in the second set and a 3-0 lead in the third, eventually succumbing to Federer's punishing ground strokes.
Federer had the decisive third-set break against the German in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead.
Greul wasted yet another break point on Federer's serve before the Swiss closed out the match with his eighth ace.
Former champion Marat Safin bid farewell to the U.S. Open with a 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 defeat by Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
The 29-year-old Russian, who won the 2000 U.S. Open and was formerly the world's top-ranked player, had already announced plans to retire at the end of the year.
Safin also won the Australian Open in 2005. He is the older brother of women's world number one Dinara Safina.
Sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro showed he was in good form with a 6-3 6-3 6-1 win over fellow Argentine Juan Monaco.
Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero ousted France's Fabrice Santoro 6-46-3 6-3.
Gael Monfils, the 13th seed, fired 12 aces to beat Jeremy Chardy 6-1 6-4 6-3 in a 95-minute, all-French affair.
Monfils, who turned 23 Tuesday, will next meet Germany's Andreas Beck, who outlasted Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-3 6-4 2-6 2-66-4.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2009)
