Federer Tops Minar in Just 61 Minutes

NEW YORK – Roger Federer took only 61 minutes to win his first-round match at the U.S. Open, topping Ivo Minar 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday.

Twelfth-seeded Tim Henman was the day’s first upset, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Americans Lindsay Davenport and Andy Roddick were the highlights in the night matches.

American James Blake followed up last weekend’s victory in nearby New Haven, Conn., with a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Britain’s Greg Rusedski, seeded 28th. Alexa Glatch, a 15-year-old wild card from Newport Beach, Calif., beat Ukrainian Yuliana Fedak 6-4, 6-3, while third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo made easy work of Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-2.

Novak Djokovic won the most entertaining match of the day, outlasting Gael Monfils of France 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 0-6, 7-5, in four hours and two minutes. When the match finally ended, Djokovic gripped the net with both hands and leaned over, utterly spent.

There was a time Roger Federer felt guilty about running his opponent off the court in quick, laughably easy matches.

He’s obviously gotten over it.

“I had the feeling the guy deserves it more than I do. That’s a horrible feeling to have inside. No, that feeling is definitely gone. That’s good,” Federer said.

Federer has finally accepted what Andre Agassi has long known.

“You don’t cheat anybody out of their experience, whatever it is,” Agassi said Monday night after his straight-set, 69-minute rout of another Open newcomer, Romanian Razvan Sabau.

Federer has been untouchable the last two seasons, the best run since Pete Sampras reigned. He’s been No. 1 since Feb. 2, 2004, and has won four of the last seven Grand Slam titles, including his third straight Wimbledon crown this year. If he defends his title here, he’d be the first man in the Open era to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in consecutive years.

And from the looks of his match against Minar, he’s got a good shot. He was up 5-0 in the first set before Minar, a Czech making his Open debut, won his first game. He had 12 aces, clocking as high as 129 mph on the radar gun.

He had 34 winners to Minar’s 12, and had only 10 unforced errors.

Minar’s best hope came from the dark clouds that thickened the sky during the match. Rain began falling before the second set, and the chair umpire came out twice to check the playing surface in the third set.

But even the weather was on Federer’s side, and the match continued without interruption. The victory was Federer’s 29th straight on hard court, and improved his overall record this year to 65-3.

“I really had the sense I was returning very well, hardly giving him any points there, holding easy on my serve,” he said. “The baseline, I didn’t have the feeling I was in any rush at all. That’s obviously a good feeling to have from the start of a tournament. That doesn’t happen very often going into Slams.

“I’ve always been looking for my rhythm early and today it was there straightaway,” he added. “That was good. Good signs. Good feeling.”

Federer had played Minar twice before this season, including a second-round match at Wimbledon, but the familiarity didn’t help the 21-year-old Czech. Federer is unbeaten on hard court since losing to Marat Safin in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and that wasn’t going to change Tuesday.

Federer mixed his shots with dizzying finesse throughout the match, looking as if he was in a practice session as he ran through his repertoire. His location was impressive, with crosscourt shots landing just beyond Minar’s reach or squarely on a line.

The times Minar was able to get his racket on the ball, his lunging stab sent it spinning out of bounds. On one point, Minar broke out every shot he had, moving Federer around with backhands, forehands and a nice drop shot.

But Federer finally had enough, unleashing a laser-like shot that Minar could only watch.

“When I would lose matches, I would feel I think three times worse than when the guy was losing. I just realized that’s not the point, either,” Federer said. “I wanted to enjoy it, win or lose, out on the court. It’s not some kind of war or anything. We’re having fun out there in the end. I like the challenge. When the match is over, life goes on.”

Or, in Federer’s case, he moves on and his opponent goes home.

Henman hasn’t been able to build on his success from last season, when he reached the semifinals at the Open and French, and made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He lost in the second round at both the French and Wimbledon this year.

On Tuesday, he was slowed by a recurring back injury.

“When it does get irritated, you get a lot of inflammation in that area,” Henman said. “It’s very difficult, if you’re practicing and trying to play, to keep that down. That was really the issue today.”