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 American wild card Catherine Bellis, the youngest player in the
draw, took her place alongside the five-times U.S. champions by
stunning 12th seeded Australian Open finalist Dominica Cibulkova of
Slovakia 6-1 4-6 6-4.
The second-seeded Federer, looking to extend his record men's haul
of slam titles to 18, posted a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (4) demolition of
Australian Marinko Matosevic as the 33-year-old's boyhood idol
Michael Jordan of basketball fame looked on.
"He was just my hero of all sports," said Federer, who has
collaborated with Jordan on a sneakers design. "Besides (Stefan)
Edberg and (Boris) Becker being my tennis idols, I had Jordan as my
all-sports idol."
Williams advanced 6-3 6-1 over unseeded fellow American Taylor
Townsend as she followed Federer onto the Arthur Ashe Stadium court
to cap the second day of the championships.
Should she go on to win the tournament, the two-times defending
champion would join Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in fourth
place on the all-time list of women's grand slam singles champions
with 18 titles apiece.
"Hopefully, I can just build on this," said Williams, who has had a
disappointing slam season with her best result a fourth-round exit
at the Australian Open back in January.
Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22) and Helen Wills Moody (19) are
the only three women to have won more grand slam titles.
ENERGY JOLT
Other leading contenders were keen to display their skills on a
sunny day in Flushing Meadows.
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and runner-up Eugenie Bouchard
launched their Open campaigns with a bang, blasting by their
respective first-round opponents with a minimum of fuss.
They were joined in the second round by eighth-seeded former world
number one Ana Ivanovic, 11th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, 16th
seed Victoria Azarenka and 2011 champion Sam Stosur, but the biggest
jolt of energy was supplied by Bellis.
Playing on the secondary Court Six, the teenager added her name to
the record books by becoming the youngest female to win a match at
the U.S. Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.
"I went into the match thinking it was going to be such a great
experience," said the pony-tailed Bellis, who received her wild card
when she became the youngest player to win the girls' 18s national
championships since Lindsay Davenport in 1991.
"But I never thought I would come out on top winning. I'm still in
shock about that match."
Third-seeded Kvitova of the Czech Republic crushed Kristina
Mladenovic of France 6-1 6-0, while Bouchard was nearly as efficient
in dismissing Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-2 6-1 in the afternoon
sunshine.
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"I'm very happy. First round is always nerves," said the hard-hitting
Kvitova, who won the lead-in tournament in New Haven last weekend. "It
was the same today. When I wake up, I start to feel nervous. I was just
glad how I played today."
BOUCHARD CONFIDENT
Kvitova fell at the first hurdle here after winning her first Wimbledon
crown in 2011.
"The other grand slams are a big challenge for me right now. I remember
2011 when I lost my first round after winning Wimbledon, so I'm just
glad that I'm better already," she said with a smile.
The 20-year-old Bouchard, the only woman to reach the semi-finals of the
year's first three majors, answered questions over her hardcourt form
with an overwhelming win.
Seventh-seeded Bouchard, who won one match in three events since losing
to Kvitova at the All England Club last month as she was bothered by
knee and hamstring injuries, ripped 19 winners and forced 24 errors from
an outclassed Govortsova.
"Obviously I would have liked more matches, but that's the way it is
sometimes," said the aggressive baseliner.
"I still feel very confident with myself."
Another seeded woman shown the exit was former French Open winner
Svetlana Kuznetsova (20th) of Russia, who lost to 82nd-ranked Marina
Erakovic of New Zealand 3-6 6-2 7-6 (3).
On the men's side, 10th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, 13th-seeded
American John Isner and 25th seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia were among
first-round winners.
Nishikori shrugged off a recent toe injury to dismiss American wild card
Wayne Odesnik, while Isner ousted compatriot Marcos Giron and Karlovic
eliminated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
Although five of eight U.S. men in action were eliminated, Sam Querrey
gave local fans something to celebrate with a 6-2 4-6 6-4 4-6 6-3 win
over Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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