NEW YORK (AP) Tomas Berdych has plenty of memories, both good and bad, at Flushing Meadows.
Put Monday's easy win into the ``good'' category.
The ninth-seeded Czech set aside memories of two first-round losses in the last three years at the U.S. Open, cruising through his opening round this time with a 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over qualifier Romain Jouan of France.
It was very disappointing to have some of those first-round exits,'' said Berdych, who also remembers winning matches on the hard courts in his first Grand Slam appearances as a junior.Things have been kind of up and down for me here. I look forward to getting some higher results this year.''
Berdych, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon finals last year, needed 1 hour, 56 minutes to complete a routine victory over Jouan, who was in his first tour-level match of the season. A fairly pressure-free day after a weekend filled with uncertainty because of Hurricane Irene, which washed out practice days and forced the players to scramble for court time.
I like routine, knowing what I'm going to do before and after a match,'' Berdych said.But on the other hand, this is good, because things didn't go perfect and I still figured out a way to win.''
Also winning an early match Monday was 27th-seeded Marin Cilic, who defeated 19-year-old American Ryan Harrison 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (6). Harrison, who made headlines last year with his first-round upset of 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, had chances to serve out the second and third sets, but was broken each time.
He also squandered a 4-1 lead in the third-set tiebreaker - and took nothing away from this match but a few scratched-up rackets, the result of the multiple times he bounced them, kicked them and skidded them along the ground at Louis Armstrong Stadium. He also kicked a ball into the stands.
I didn't break any rackets; I didn't say swear words on court,'' Harrison said.It could have gotten better and I could have been better. I didn't really go nuts.''
Other early winners included 20th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, No. 31 Marcel Granollers, No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov and, on the women's side, No. 19 Julia Goerges.
America's top-ranked man, eighth-seeded Mardy Fish, had an afternoon match, as did Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Third-seeded Roger Federer and Venus Williams had night matches scheduled for Arthur Ashe Stadium.