World No 1s both ease into second round

TOP seed and world No 1 Novak Djokovic barely had to break sweat last night to make it through the second round of the US Open as Irishman Conor Niland retired through illness while trailing 6-0, 5-1.

Niland had required attention early in the second set after apparently being ill during the warm-up and, although he soldiered on for a short while, he bowed to the inevitable as Djokovic proved far too strong.

David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also had little trouble reaching the second round, but last year’s semi-finalist Mikhail Youzhny was beaten in straight sets by Ernests Gulbis.

Fifth seed Ferrer won 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, while Tsonga – fresh from wins over Roger Federer in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and in Montreal – was impressive in a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Lu Yen-Hsun.

Women’s world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of unseeded Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives. Wozniacki, the US Open runner-up in 2009, blasted 22 winners and never lost her serve to defeat her Spanish opponent, and will next play either Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands or Russian Elena Vesnina.