Federer Maintains Smooth Progress; Fish Cruises

© Getty ImagesMardy Fish goes into the third round in a rich vein of form.

World No. 2 Roger Federer continued his smooth progress through the US Open draw on Thursday, dismissing World No. 104 Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in blustery conditions at Flushing Meadows to reach the third round.

The Swiss was strong on serve in his first meeting with Beck, firing 15 aces and winning 80 per cent of points behind his first serve. He committed half the unforced errors of his opponent (18 to 36) and capitalised on five of 10 break points to cruise to victory in one hour and 41 minutes.

"It's the perfect start, sure. I played Monday, had two days off. I had another easy one physically today, and here I am in the third round feeling like I'm completely in the tournament," said Federer. "I got a sense for how the court speed is again. I got the sense of the crowd and the wind now as well. I played one night, one day. I have all the answers after two matches.

"Tougher matches will only be coming up now, I guess. I underestimate nobody. But today was already a little bit dangerous of an opponent. He hits hard, flat, and through the wind it's not so easy to all of a sudden try to brush up the ball because you shank a lot so you start playing more careful. It's gonna be interesting to see how the Saturday conditions are going to be with the hurricane sort of moving in. We'll see how that goes."

The 29-year-old Federer is bidding to regain the US Open title he won between 2004-08, having been dethroned last year by Juan Martin del Potro in the final. The right-hander, who has a 53-5 record at Flushing Meadows, is the holder of a record 16 major singles titles and is looking to win his second Grand Slam championship of the season after lifting the trophy at the Australian Open (d. Murray) in January.

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Federer secured his place at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with victory in his first-round match against Brian Dabul. The Basel native has compiled a 41-10 match record this season, adding to his Australian Open title with victory in Cincinnati (d. Fish) two weeks ago.

Federer next will face Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who backed up his first-round win over Lleyton Hewitt with a 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-3 victory over countryman Guillaume Rufin.

American No. 19 seed Mardy Fish clinched a keenly contested first set before coasting past Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 Thursday at Flushing Meadows to reach the third round. The 28-year-old Fish saved a staggering 14 of 15 break points and hit 32 winners as he broke serve seven times from 11 opportunities to seal victory in two hours.

"I competed well," assessed Fish. "He started out great… and I fought hard to stay just a break down in that first set. It was pretty hot, so to win the first set is huge in this type of weather.

"I thought I played better than my first round. My legs won me a few points at the end of the first set. Physically I felt great throughout the match and I knew he was sort of struggling out there a little bit," added the American, who has worked hard on his diet to lose 30 pounds in the past year.

Fish, a quarter-finalist in New York in 2008 (l. to Nadal), came into the US Open in arguably the best form of his career. He finished third in the Olympus US Open Series after winning the Atlanta title (d. Isner) and finishing runner-up in Cincinnati (l. to Federer). Earlier in the summer he had won the grass-court title in Newport (d. O. Rochus) and lost out to Sam Querrey in The Queen’s Club final.

Fish next will face France’s Arnaud Clement, who was leading 6-3, 5-5 when his opponent, Eduardo Schwank of Argentina, was forced to retire with a left ankle injury. Clement had defeated No. 16 seed Marcos Baghdatis in the first round.