Berdych Makes Confident Start; Cilic Strikes Early Blow To U.S. Hopes

© Getty ImagesMarin Cilic reached the 2009 US Open quarter-finals.

Ninth seed Tomas Berdych hit 34 winners and seven aces to defeat French qualifier Romain Jouan 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-1 on Monday for a place in the US Open second round.

The 25-year-old Berdych won 18 of 21 points on approach to the net and converted five of nine break point opportunities. It was his 40th match win of the season (40-17 overall). He is making his ninth straight appearance at Flushing Meadows, having advanced to the fourth round on three previous occasions in 2004 (l. to Haas), 2006 (l. to Blake) and 2007 (l. to Roddick).

Croatian Marin Cilic struck an early blow to U.S. hopes when he defeated fast-rising 19-year-old Ryan Harrison 6-2, 7-5, 7-6(6) in two hours and 26 minutes on the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Cilic, who lost to Juan Martin del Potro in the 2009 quarter-finals, hit 39 winners and converted seven of nine break point opportunities for a place in the second round. Harrison hit seven double faults and 37 unforced errors, four fewer than No. 27 seed Cilic.

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Cilic goes on to face Australian Bernard Tomic, who opened his debut US Open main draw campaign with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over American Michael Yani. The 18-year-old Tomic made his Grand Slam breakthrough at Wimbledon, where he became the youngest man since Boris Becker in 1986 to reach the quarter-finals.

"I was pretty confident. I'm happy the way I played today and got through," said Tomic. "I have a tough player next match. We had a tough match in Australia a few years ago, and I think it's going to be a big battle when we play on Wednesday/Thursday. So I have to prepare as much as I can this time to beat him this time and have revenge on him."

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Serbian No. 20 seed Janko Tipsarevic, who beat 2003 titlist Andy Roddick en route to the third round (l. to Monfils) last year, dropped just three points on his first serve to beat France's Augustin Gensse 6-2, 7-5, 6-0 in one hour and 58 minutes.

Alexandr Dolgopolov, the No. 22 seed from the Ukraine, recorded his first match win at the US Open by hitting 10 aces past Frederico Gil of Portugal in a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win in the same time as Tipsarevic's victory.

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