2010 U.S. Open Day 2: Favorites Roll Despite Tough Early Tests

Highlights from a long, hot, at times interminable second day of first-round U.S. Open tennis:

• (1) Caroline Wozniacki def. Chelsey Gullickson, 6-1, 6-1.

Really, this isn’t bad at all for a first-time qualifier facing a No. 1 seed. Gullickson’s got a great backhand that will only grow fiercer with added control. As for Wozniacki? She played with a lethal efficiency that may have been born of wanting to get to bed already (this match didn’t even begin until almost midnight), but her hiccup-free performance belied the late hour.

No. 14 Maria Sharapova overcame a troublesome first-set loss to beat Jarmila Groth, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in first-round U.S. Open play. Sharapova rebounded from her early struggles to play largely error-free tennis in the third set, and advances to take on the Czech Republic’s Iveta Benesova.

She also takes home the day’s best-dressed award for a fetching dark mint number with matching cardigan.

It’s been a rough year for James Blake, with frequent early-round losses and a knee injury that kept him out of the French Open and hampered him at Wimbledon. He’s experiencing a very late bounce back, however, first advancing to the quarterfinals in the Farmers Classic, and today blowing through his first-round U.S. Open opponent, Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Blake and his headband advance to face Peter Polansky of Canada.

For more U.S. Open coverage, visit SB Nation’s The Daily Forehand.

Fellow Serb Viktor Troicki took third-seeded Novak Djokovic to a full five sets in second-day action at the U.S. Open, winning the second two rather handily before succumbing.

Temperatures in New York continued to adversely affect match conditions. Wilting rapidly under hellishly hot court conditions, Djokovic fell behind two sets to one (the second two weren’t even all that close), before seeming to realize that the mercury wasn’t going to drop in time to do him any good, and visibly bucking up to triumph, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

For more U.S. Open coverage, visit SB Nation’s The Daily Forehand.

Arnaud Clement upset No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis, 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the first round of the 2010 U.S. Open Tuesday. It was an ugly but epic match that dragged on for nearly three and a half hours. “I think Clement looks better,” ESPN’s Pam Shriver said at one point. “Both look bad though.”

Down 5-6, 30-40 in the fifth, Baghdatis, who in 2006 played an incredible match here against Andre Agassi, at least looked like he was trying to force a tiebreaker. He boomed a big ace to bring it to deuce. Clement, however, then smacked a backhand for a winner before Baghdatis sent a looping forehand wide on match point.

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic squeaked past Simona Halep, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, in the first round of the 2010 U.S. Open. Soaring temperatures had a major effect on the quality of the match, which lasted almost two and a half hours. Halep actually led 5-4 in third set before falling apart.

After a 20-stroke rally late in the match ended with Halep dumping a drop shot attempt into the net, ESPN’s Cliff Drysdale seemed as tired as the players. “It’s like two punch-drunk boxers,” he said. Jankovic looked tentative throughout the match, piling up 48 unforced errors.

Live matches will be shown on the Tennis Channel from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., on ESPN2 from 1-11 p.m. and streaming starting at 1 on ESPN3 (all times East Coast). According to the official TV schedule, from 2-7 p.m. Tennis Channel coverage will only focus on courts 11 and/or 13. So if you’re interested in the big guns, ESPN2 is your best bet.

Here are a few matches worth checking out on a blazing hot Day 2: