Andy Murray survived a tight first-set struggle to win in straight sets on Wednesday, progressing to the second round of the US Open as the upsets began to mount in a severely diminished women’s draw.
The fourth-seeded Scot won 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 against India’s Somdev Devvarman, setting up a second-round meeting with Dutchman Robin Haase.
All the seeded men in action on Wednesday won, with the exception of No. 10 Nicolas Almagro, who was comfortably beaten 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 by France’s Julien Benneteau.
It was a different story in the women’s draw, where several seeds were eliminated in second-round action, while former champion Venus Williams withdrew from the tournament, citing an auto-immune illness.
Former Wimbledon finalist and eighth seed Marion Bartoli was, beaten 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 by young American Christina McHale. No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska went down 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Dominika Cibulkova and Yanina Wickmayer were the other seeded casualties. Cibulkova suffered a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to American Irina Falconi and Wickmayer retired when trailing 6-1, 3-0 against Russian Alla Kudryatseva.
Russian title hopefuls Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova avoided the carnage, progressing to the third round in contrasting fashion.
Zvonareva’s third-round opponent will be Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues, while Sharapova will meet Italian No. 26 seed Flavia Pennetta.
Australian Sam Stosur also won through, beating American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-4 and she will take on Russian No. 24 Nadia Petrova in round three.
American Andy Roddick held on to beat 96th-ranked compatriot Michael Russell 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
Among Wednesday’s winners was 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who didn’t try to defend his title last year because of a wrist injury.
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Shu-ying and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan defeated Hungary’s Greta Arn and Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Latvia’s Lija Dekmeijere and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated 13th seeds Chuang Chia-jung of Taiwan and Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2, 6-2.
Slovania’s Andreja Klepac and Anna Tatishvili of Gerogia defeated 10th seeds Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).
In the mixed doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Mariusz Fyrstenberg of Poland defeated Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-3, 6-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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