No. 1 Wozniacki breezes through U.S. Open opener
NEW YORK — Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the second round of the U.S. Open on Tuesday as the top-seeded Dane again seeks her first major title.
Wozniacki beat Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain 6-3, 6-1 in an hour, 20 minutes. She won last weekend at New Haven to regain some momentum heading into the Open.
Wozniacki broke for the fourth time to clinch the match. She faced only one break point on her serve.
The 125th-ranked Llagostera Vives has never won in seven tries at the U.S. Open.
The men’s top seed, Novak Djokovic, showed no signs of any trouble with his right shoulder, building a 6-0, 5-1 lead in the first round of the U.S. Open before his ailing opponent stopped playing.
Djokovic won the first seven games, then reeled off the last 16 points in a row when qualifier Conor Niland of Ireland retired. Niland had been seen by a trainer and was bent over, hands on knees, after several points.
It was Djokovic’s first match since he quit because of a painful shoulder while trailing in the second set of the Cincinnati Masters final on Aug. 21. That went into the books as the Serb’s second loss of the year.
The result against Niland improved Djokovic to 58-2 with nine titles in 2011, including at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
Fifth-seeded David Ferrer rallied from a set down to beat Igor Andreev in the first round.
The Spaniard won 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. He hasn’t lost in the first round at a major tournament since 2005. Ferrer had 14 unforced errors in dropping the first set, then had only 24 the rest of the way.
Andreev committed 53 unforced errors. The 78th-ranked Russian is a former top-20 player but has been out of the top 50 for more than a year.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Yen-hsun Lu in straight sets in his return to the U.S. Open after missing last year with a knee injury.
The 11th-seeded Frenchman won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Tsonga has reached at least the third round in his past 14 major appearances.
Tsonga had 39 winners to 17 for Lu.
The 82nd-ranked player from Taiwan made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2010.
Fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka easily advanced to the second round.
Azarenka beat 60th-ranked Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-3 in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Azarenka broke Larsson’s serve to convert her first match point and win in just 70 minutes.
The fifth-ranked player from Belarus had pulled out of the U.S. Open warmup in Cincinnati with a right hand strain. This is the only major tournament where she has never reached the quarterfinals.
Azarenka could potentially face Serena Williams in the third round this time. She had to retire in the second round last year, collapsing because of a concussion suffered in a fall before the match.
Azarenka won 77 percent of points on her second serve Tuesday, even better than the 72 percent on her first serve.
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Submited at Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 12:00 am on Sports by ethan
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