The two top seeds and the top-seeded American all cruised without dropping a set in the second round of the 2011 U.S. Open, as Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki and
Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Mardy Fish Cruise Into 2011 U.S. Open 3rd Round
Four seeded men’s players were knocked out of the draw, and three were French — Seventh-seed Gael Monfils lost in a marathon to 2003 finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero, 13th-seed Richard Gasquet, and 29th seed Michael Llodra — while 23rd seed Radek Stepanek retired.
Djokovic continued his dream season — he’s lost only twice, one of which was due to injury in the Cincinnati final against Rafael Nadal — with a thorough domination of Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-0, 6-0, 6-2.
Watching Djokovic play, it seems almost ludicrous to pick anyone to beat him. Sure, he’s playing against inferior competition, but his combination of court coverage, return expertise and precision placement of all his shots are unmatched at this point in time.
Berlocq didn’t even play poorly. In fact, his serves were big, he was covering the court well, he made Djokovic sweat. But, it didn’t matter. No one could have beaten Djokovic tonight.
Wozniacki, who’s seeded and ranked number one despite having never made the final at a Grand Slam, breezed by her second-round opponent, Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-2. She looks in fine form, but even she doesn’t seem to look like a candidate to beat Serena Williams, who’s won 14 straight matches after her victory earlier Thursday.
The top-seeded American in the field, eighth-ranked Mardy Fish, also dispatched his opponent easily, beating Tunisian Malek Jaziri. Jaziri was the first Tunisian to ever win a match at a Grand Slam, but was such an unknown quantity that commentators Chris Fowler and John McEnroe spent the entire warmup discussing how little they knew about him.
Now, thanks to Fish, that won’t be a problem moving forward. He’ll face South African Kevin Anderson in the third round, who thoroughly dominated Llodra, in what some analysts are calling a trap game for the 29-year-old.
Djokovic will face former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko in the third round, his first true test of the tournament, though at this rate, no one not named Roger, Rafael or Andy are a test for the Djoker.
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