NEW YORK—Hours after New York City’s mass transit system was restored, Mardy Fish was in no mood to be derailed.
Sprinting forward on a serve-and-volley, Fish found himself momentarily stalled as a stinging return from Tobias Kamke sped past him. Spinning quickly, Fish raced back to the baseline with the urgency of a commuter rushing to catch the 7 train before the subway doors slammed shut. Fish’s back was to the net as he flicked a between-the-legs forehand to prolong the point; he then followed it forward and blasted a backhand into the corner, compelling a surprised Kamke to net a weak reply. That shot symbolized the match: Even when the 92nd-ranked German found a way to play over Fish’s head, the U.S. Open Series champ produced an answer.
The eighth seed converted seven of eight break points in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 sweep that spanned one hour and 43 minutes. A streaking Fish scored his 15th win in his last 18 matches in surging into the second round of the U.S. Open.
While Fish doesn’t have the tweener history of his pre-tournament practice partner Roger Federer, he showed a speedy first step and sharp improvisational skills in the stirring sequence that sparked life into a subdued crowd. “That’s a dangerous shot, to be honest,” Fish told ESPN in his on-court interview. “I thought that was my only shot, so I played it.”
Though he encountered some complications on his final serve-and-volley of the match, Fish’s willingness to move forward in the court proved pivotal as he won 24 of 31 net points (77 percent), including eight of nine serve-and-volley points. Fish has spent some of his practice time fine-tuning his volley, and looked eager to impose his all-court ability to punctuate points.
It was a comprehensive conquest, though the first set was not quite as clean as the immaculate scoreline suggests. Fish surrendered serve at 15 to open the match, but reeled off four straight games to take charge. Serving at 4-2, Fish fended off four break points. Leaning into the court to catch a low toss at its peak, Fish sent a serve into the body, Kamke clanked a return into the 12th row and Fish followed by slamming a short forehand winner cross-court to hold for 5-2, igniting a run of five straight games that saw him seize a 6-2, 3-0 stronghold.
Kamke has a habit of leaping into his two-handed backhand, a move popularized by Marcelo Rios and Marat Safin, but the 25-year-old—playing his second main draw match in Flushing Meadows—lacked the firepower to trouble Fish.
After Fish held at love for a 2-1 third-set lead, Johnny Cash’s classic “Ring Of Fire” blared from the sound system on the ensuing changeover. It was an appropriate anthem for Kamke, who flamed out in frustration. Kamke tapped a meek double fault into net to dump serve and fall into a 3-1 hole, which he followed by winding up and hurling his Head frame face first onto the blue court.
Fish moves on to a manageable second-rounder against either Thiemo de Bakker or Malek Jaziri.
—Richard Pagliaro