French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the second round with a straight-sets victory over qualifier Karol Beck.
Roddick serves 20 aces in beating qualifier Rhyne Williams
French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the second round of the US Open with a straight-sets victory over Slovakian qualifier Karol Beck.
Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open runner-up who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, won 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7/2).
Fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Slovak qualifier Karol Beck in straight sets in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Tsonga won 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (2) on Tuesday, rallying from down a break in the third set. Both players had 36 unforced errors, but Tsonga had 41 winners to 25 for Beck.
The Frenchman made the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open last year, his best showing at Flushing Meadows.
The 143rd-ranked Beck reached the round of 16 at the 2004 Open, but the 30-year-old has lost in the first round in 16 of his 24 Grand Slam appearances.
Tsonga will next face another Slovakian, 52nd-ranked Martin Klizan.
Qualified success
Andy Roddick served 20 aces to defeat 21-year-old American qualifier Rhyne Williams 6-3 6-4 6-4 in the first round.
Roddick, seeded 20th, won the last 16 points on his serve and finished the match with a 127-mph ace.
It was a tough way to make a Grand Slam debut for Williams, who won three matches in qualifying, then learned he had a first-round matchup with the 2003 champion in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, ranked 289th coming into the week, put in a respectable performance, but dropped a break in each set. He'll still earn $23,000 as a first-round loser in the year's final Grand Slam.
Raonic survives
Milos Raonic was pushed all the way by Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
The Canadian 15th seed is the brightest of the next generation and is seen as a potential threat to the big names but he looked on his way out at two sets to one and a break down.
Raonic, a potential fourth-round opponent for Andy Murray, was decidedly out of sorts in the roasting conditions at Flushing Meadows but turned things around to win 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 in three hours and 25 minutes.
Sixth seed Berdych was tested by talented Belgian David Goffin, who reached the fourth round of the French Open as a lucky loser, but did not lose a set, coming through 7-5 6-3 6-3.
The Czech saved 16 of the 18 break points he faced, and he said: "It's a good statistic for me. I think he has a pretty good future ahead of him. If he keeps doing what he's doing, then I think we can see him quite high in the future."
Nicolas Almagro, the 11th seed from Spain, defeated Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-4.
