NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal’s first match as defending U.S. Open champion was hardly a tour de force. He would fall behind in a set, then come back. Fall behind, then come back.
With his serve broken six times — that happened a total of five times in seven matches during his 2010 run to the title — the second-seeded Nadal eventually got past 98th-ranked Andrey Golubev 6-3, 7-6 (1), 7-5 on Tuesday night to reach the second round of the U.S. Open.
“Well,” Nadal conceded, “I was a little bit lucky to win today in straight sets.”
That’s for sure. And Nadal expended a lot more energy Tuesday than Novak Djokovic.
Playing his first match since Aug. 21, when he quit because of a sore and tired shoulder, the top-seeded Djokovic began setting aside any questions about his fitness, building a 6-0, 5-1 lead before qualifier Conor Niland of Ireland stopped after 44 minutes. Niland had food poisoning.
“Great opening performance,” Djokovic said. “Today I didn’t feel any pain. I served well, and I played well, so I have no concern.”
In other matches:
• French Open champion Li Na fell in the first round for the second straight year, losing 6-2, 7-5 to 53rd-ranked Romanian teenager Simona Halep.
• Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka, son of the record-breaking pole vaulter of the same name, won his Grand Slam tennis debut, beating Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
The Associated Press
