Wozniacki out of US Open, Djokovic on fire

29 Aug 2012, 9:13 pm   -   Source: AAP
Novak Djokovic (pic) opened his US Open title defence with a 6-1 6-0 6-1 thrashing of Paolo Lorenzi. (AAP)

Novak Djokovic (pic) opened his US Open title defence with a 6-1 6-0 6-1 thrashing of Paolo Lorenzi. (AAP)

Novak Djokovic opened his US Open title defence by thrashing Italy's Paolo Lorenzi, while Caroline Wozniacki's New York campaign is over.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic needed just 73 minutes to reach the US Open second round on Tuesday in an embarrassingly one-sided 6-1 6-0 6-1 mauling of hapless Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

The second-seeded Serb overcame dropping his serve in the opening game to reel off 18 of the next 19 games, firing seven aces as well as 32 winners against 30-year-old Lorenzi, who has never won a grand slam match.

Djokovic next faces either Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva or Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia.

"My game was great from start to finish. It was important to be economical with my time on court. I tried to get to the net and stay focussed," said the world No.2.

While Djokovic was enjoying his evening stroll on Arthur Ashe Stadium, next door on Louis Armstrong, former world No.1 and 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, without a title this year, was crashing to a painful first-round loss.

The Danish eighth seed, watched by golfing superstar boyfriend Rory McIlroy, was beaten by World No.96 Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 6-2.

Wozniacki came into the match with her knee heavily strapped, having picked up an injury at New Haven last week, and she needed more treatment on Tuesday before slipping to defeat.

"I tried and didn't succeed in playing well. There were too many errors. It's frustrating but I will have to move on," said Wozniacki, who made the semi-finals in the past two years.

Andy Roddick, America's last men's major champion when he captured the 2003 US Open title, eased past compatriot and qualifier Rhyne Williams, the world No.289.

His comfortable 6-3 6-4 6-4 win was a gentle way to start his 13th successive US Open appearance, which also comes just two days before his 30th birthday.

Roddick will face Bernard Tomic for a place in the last 32.

Fellow US veteran Venus Williams, the 2000 and 2001 winner, also won an all-American match-up, beating wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-1.

Williams, playing her 14th consecutive US Open, missed nine months of action with the fatigue-causing Sjogren's Syndrome and came into the tournament ranked at 46.

The 32-year-old next faces German sixth seed Angelique Kerber, who knocked her out of the Olympics.

Three-time women's champion and Olympic Games gold medallist Serena Williams, last year's runner-up, defeated American compatriot Coco Vandeweghe 6-1 6-1 in the late match on Arthur Ashe.

Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska and former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic also breezed into the second round as both women look to bury their woeful Flushing Meadows records.

Polish second seed Radwanska and Ivanovic, the 12th-seeded Serb who was French Open champion in 2008, have never got beyond the fourth round in New York but have been quarter-finalists at the other three majors.

Radwanska began her campaign with a 6-1 6-1 win over Nina Bratchikova, while Ivanovic defeated 17-year-old Ukrainian qualifier Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-2 and goes on to face Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson.

In other men's play, French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and sixth seed Tomas Berdych advanced with three-set wins.

Canadian 15th seed Milos Ranoic survived a gruelling five-setter to beat Santiago Giraldo 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4, firing 30 aces in the process.

On a bad day for Argentina, 10th seed Juan Monaco surrendered a two-set lead to lose to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 3-6 1-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-3).

David Nalbandian pulled out of the tournament with a rib injury.

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