Federer marches on

Federer easily breezed through the first two rounds at the US Open, defeating two qualifiers in two straight-set matches. Federer's 92-minute 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory over the United States' own Scoville Jenkins was a typical but perfect start for the three-time defending US Open champion. However it was during his match against the 120th-ranked Paul Capdeville that he unleashed his impressive repertoire of shots, firing 45 winners and committing just 11 unforced errors, to clinch a 6-1 6-4 6-4 win in just 89 minutes. I must say that the audience got their money's worth despite the quick win. And apparently it was also his all-black outfit for evening matches that caused quite a stir as well. Personally though, I prefer his royal blue shirt for day matches and still think he looks more classy and elegant in all-white.

Meanwhile, Federer's closest rivals for this year's US Open title didn't have as much as an easy time as the defending champion did. Nadal with his knee tendinitis was lucky to eke out a 4-set win over Alun Jones from Australia in the first round. He was even luckier in his next match when he faced Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic who also was nursing a knee injury and had to eventually withdraw in the third set after hurting a rib. Then while world number three Novak Djokovic made an emphatic start with a 6-2 6-1 6-3 win over Robin Haase in the first round, he had to endure a marathon of a match against an in-form Radek Stepanek in the second round. (All the more I'm ruing the fact that we're not getting any tv coverage here at all!) Lleyton Hewitt, who I thought was a threat as well to Federer in this year's US Open, was not so fortunate. After a good straight-set win in the first round, the hapless Australian fell to Agustin Calleri in four sets just last night (I watched the live scoreboard online and listened to US Open radio). What an irony. Hewitt was clearly looking forward to another opportunity to face Federer declaring he was ready to face Federer again but this shock loss shows that he's just not ready to face other players. It's a pity also though that he lost this early. I was looking forward to seeing him play Djokovic in the fourth round. That would have been exciting. Oh well.

Anyway, back to Federer. For the third round, Federer will be going up against John Isner, the 6-foot-9-inch giant from the US. Isner will definitely have the crowd behind him and a big serve that could trouble Federer. Although Federer has had no trouble returning big serves like those of Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic, Isner will be playing with nothing to lose. Still, the big occasion might overwhelm Isner and I expect Federer's experience should pull him through.