Superb shot illuminates Roger Federer win

ROGER Federer repeated his through-the-legs shot of 2009 to hit a stunning winner against Brian Dabul, and looked at ease throughout during his routine 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 first-round victory at Flushing Meadows.

The only disappointing aspect of Federer's performance was converting just five of his 19 break points, but the 16-time Grand Slam winner said: "I had a lot of chances but credit to Brian too, his first time in a major and on centre court and I think he did a good job."

Only two seeds lost on the opening day, with France's Paul-Henri Mathieu handing 32nd seed Lleyton Hewitt his first defeat in the opening round of the US Open, winning 6-3, 6-4, 5-,7 4-6 6-1. Fernando Gonzalez was the other seed to fall, the 27th seed forced to retire injured from his match with Croatia's Ivan Dodig after Dodig won the second set 6-1 to level the contest.

Elsewhere, Serbia's Novak Djokovic caught his second wind in the nick of time to overcome Davis Cup team-mate Viktor Troicki 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 on a brutally hot day.

Djokovic, who has struggled in the heat in the past, looked beaten after trailing 3-1 in the fourth set but the third seed came roaring back to book a second-round match against Philipp Petzschner of Germany, who beat Dusan Lojda.

American Andy Roddick celebrated his 28th birthday by beating France's Stephane Robert 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, but fifth seed Robin Soderling had a far tougher time against Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer before winning in five sets. France's Gael Monfils beat American Robert Kendrick 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, while sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko beat American Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with Richard Gasquet.