OPENING DAY AT THE OPEN

Happy Birthday, Andy!

To celebrate his 28th birthday, Andy Roddick cruised to en easy first round win.  As for what he did to celebrate in the evening... I don't have that kind of scoop, you'll have to check the gossip columns.  

Gael Monfils was pushed to the limit by American Robert Kendrick.  A controversial call late in the fifth really seemed to be the difference in Monfils taking the final set, 6-4.  At 4-4, 30 all, Kendrick hit a ball very close to the baseline, Monfils was going to hit it with his racket but tried to pull away at the last second.  It was almost impossible to tell on replay if that ball hit Monfils racket first or the ground first.  Monfils didn't admit to anything, the ball was called out, and the Frenchman won the next point to close out the game.  Kendrick seemed to lose a bit of concentration and was then broken to end the match.  Tough way to lose for a guy like Kendrick who has come close to upsetting top guys in majors, but never seems to be able to seal the deal.

Robin Soderling was also tested.  After winning the first two sets against Austrain qualifier, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Soderling dropped the next two and had to pull out a nervy 6-4 win in the fifth.  Haider-Maurer served big and went for his shots, surprising the Swede with greater talent than you'd expect from a guy who plays mainly on the Challenger circuit.

Lleyton Hewitt, former #1  and winner of the 2001 U.S. Open, fell behind two sets to love versus another Frenchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, before roaring back to take the next two sets and send the match to a fifth.  But, the aging Aussie tired in the deciding set and Mathieu took it, 6-1, to knock the #32 seed out of the tournament.

Chilean bomber Fernando Gonzalez has been struggling with injuries all year and was forced to retire from his first round match against Ivan Dodig, from Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Gonzo has been around a long time and produced a lot of great tennis, I hope he can heal up and make another run at a major before he calls it quits.

American Taylor Dent had an easy first round win.  13th seed Jurgen Melzer pulled out a five-set win, as did 21st seed Albert Montanes.  That makes a total of 5 five-setters yesterday on the men's side.  However, none of them compared to the excitement generated by a single shot of the racket of the magical Roger Federer.