Flushing Meadows, NY – Fourth seed David Ferrer, former champion Juan Martin del Potro and American hopeful John Isner were a trio of first-round winners Wednesday at the 2012 U.S. Open.
The gritty Spaniard Ferrer straight-setted 6-foot-8 South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at Armstrong Stadium. Anderson misfired for 31 unforced errors on Day 3 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
"It was not easy match, no, with Anderson," Ferrer said. "He's a really good player. He's very strong first and second serve. I'm happy."
Ferrer's second-round opponent will be Dutchman Igor Sijsling, who defeated Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 on a beautiful day in New York City.
In the lone second-round match of the night, third-seeded Brit Andy Murray took a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ivan Dodig of Croatia to cap Wednesday's play.
The seventh-seeded del Potro erased French lucky-loser Florent Serra 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Serra replaced del Potro's fellow Argentine David Nalbandian in the draw Wednesday morning.
The 6-foot-6 del Potro stunned Roger Federer in the 2009 U.S. Open final.
The ninth-seeded Isner held off talented Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (11-9) in just under three hours at Ashe Stadium. Isner saved two sets points in the fourth-set tiebreak.
The massive-serving Isner, who leads the tour in tiebreaks played this year (50), fired 20 aces on Day 3.
Up next for the 6-foot-9 Isner will be Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen.
Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic had to come all the way back in order to beat France's Guillaume Rufin in five sets, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. It marked the fifth time in his career that the gritty Tipsarevic has overcome a two-sets-to-love deficit on the ATP World Tour.
Nifty Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded 13th at this Big Apple fortnight, came back to beat Spaniard Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
Former world No. 1 star and 2001 U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt moved on with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 come-from-behind victory over German Tobias Kamke. The 31-year-old Aussie veteran Hewitt is also a former Wimbledon champ.
Nineteenth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber needed four sets, but advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory over Michael Llodra of France.
Mild upsets came when Latvian Ernests Gulbis took out No. 21 German Tommy Haas 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3; Spaniard Tommy Robredo doused 26th-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; Luxembourg's Gilles Muller grounded 28th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6); and German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe took out 29th-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The two-time U.S. Open semifinalist Youzhny has now lost in the first round in his last two trips to New York.
American Brian Baker moved on with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Czech Jan Hajek and will meet Tipsarevic in the round of 64. Sidelined by a host of surgeries over the years, the 27-year-old Baker is playing at America's Open for the first time since 2005.
Also advancing to the second round were Americans Ryan Harrison and Bradley Klahn, Argentine Leonardo Mayer, France's Benoit Paire, Slovenian Grega Zemlja, and Steve Johnson, who topped fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
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