U.S. Open 2011, Day 2: Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams Advance To Cap Tuesday

In the only U.S. Grand Slam of the season, 12 American singles players take the court Wednesday, with Andy Roddick and John Isner both scheduled to play their opening round matches in the evening. Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova play their first and second round matches, respectively, at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The all American match takes place in the evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium with Andy Roddick and Michael Russel. Here’s a schedule of some of the biggest matches of the day.

Men’s matches:

No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic advanced when first-round opponent Conor Niland was forced to retire from the 2011 U.S. Open with an illness. At the time of Niland’s retirement, Djokovic was leading 6-0, 5-1 and had been on the court just 44 minutes.

Niland apparently got food poisoning the night before and got sick on the court during warmups. In his first U.S. Open match, he did not look comfortable at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Niland had made 18 unforced errors and two double-faults, as opposed to one ace and just three winners.

Unseeded Ernests Gulbis pulled off the first significant upset of the 2011 U.S. Open when he beat No. 16 seed seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. Gulbis entered the match as the 155th ranked player in the world, while Youzhny came in hoping to build off his semifinal appearance of a year ago.

Gulbis did it mostly on the back of his big serve. He opened up the final game with two aces and ended up with 14 in the match. Gulbis faced down 10 break points, but Youzhny was never able to capitalize. Gulbis, on the other hand, was able to break Youzhny four times in seven opportunities.