Hotly-tipped American teenager Andy Roddick has reached the second round of the US Open, beating 121st-ranked Czech Slava Dosedel. The 18-year-old hit 17 aces on the way to an impressive 6-4 6-1 6-2 win. "I just wanted to get out there, put some balls in the court in the first set and I started rolling in the second and third. I felt good," said 18th seed Roddick.
Four-time champion Pete Sampras, who earlier won his match against Frenchman Julien Boutter 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6), does not feel overly threatened by this new generation of talent. "People are looking at who the next crop of young Americans are. Me and Andre (Agassi) are getting up there in age…and we're looking for another champion. That's why there's a lot of focus on Andy as being the main guy," said 30-year-old Sampras, who was in a similar position to Roddick when John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were reaching the end of their careers.
Roddick does not believe that the older crop of players are ready to be swept away. "Pete is having an off year and he's 10 in the world, which is pretty awesome. They're definitely still here ... and they're not going to go away," he said.
In the tournament's first upset, eighth-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean crashed out 6-4 6-3 6-4 to 103rd-ranked Argentine Mariano Zabaleta. Fifth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov both needed five-sets before scraping through. Ferrero, twice a Grand Slam semi-finalist this year, staged a dramatic comeback for a 1-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 victory over Arnaud Di Pasquale. Former French and Australian Open champion Kafelnikov won through in a see-saw struggle against Swiss Michel Kratochvil 1-6 6-1 5-7 6-4 6-4. The Russian Olympic champion let a 5-2 fifth-set lead slip away but held on for victory.
Filed by Greg McKevitt
