Wed Aug 27 18:04:19 2008

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Djokovic, Davydenko cruise in Big Apple

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Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - Last year's runner-up Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Russian star Nikolay Davydenko were easy first-round winners Wednesday at the U.S. Open.

A third-seeded Djokovic won his seventh match in his last eight tries in New York with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 two-hour victory over Wimbledon quarterfinalist Arnaud Clement of France.

Djokovic, who captured the Australian Open back in January, gave way to Roger Federer in last year's U.S. Open finale.

The 21-year-old Djokovic injured his left ankle while leading Clement 2-1 in the third set and had it wrapped by a trainer, but he ultimately seemed unfazed by the problem en route to the second round.

The fifth-seeded Davydenko, meanwhile, drubbed Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Davydenko, who played in the semifinals here in each of the previous two years, will meet capable Argentine Agustin Calleri in the second round.

Eighteenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro reached the round of 64 with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Canada's Frank Dancevic, while 19th-seeded Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga came from behind to best Spain's Santiago Ventura 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in his first match since May, and 26th-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov snuck past Argentine Eduardo Schwank 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). The oft-injured Tsonga was the Aussie Open runner-up to Djokovic and had been sidelined with a knee injury the past three months.

Former U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri eased into the second round with a 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) victory over fellow unseeded American Amer Delic, while former world No. 1 Carlos Moya of Spain held off Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-2. The former French Open champion Moya, who reached the quarterfinals in Flushing last year, will meet Tsonga in an intriguing second-rounder here.

A 28th-seeded Radek Stepanek, of the Czech Republic, rolled with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 decision against Italian Potito Starace.

Additional Day-3 wins came for American wild card Sam Warburg, Romanian Victor Hanescu and Calleri, who whipped American Austin Krajicek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

The U.S. Open marks the fourth and final major of the year.