Ljubicic upset, Roddick wins

New York:

Feliciano Lopez of Spain ousted third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-3 6-3 in the US Open's first big upset on Monday. Ljubicic beat Lopez at the Australian Open and Wimbledon en route to achieving career-best results at all three preceding Grand Slams this year but the Croatian star never even sniffed at a break chance against Lopez. The Spaniard broke Ljubicic five times, including in the last game, while being virtually untouchable on his own serve. He cracked 11 aces to Ljubicic's 13, and won 93 per cent of his first serves, 43 of 46. Ljubicic was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne, a semifinalist in Paris, and reached the third round for the first time at Wimbledon but his latest defeat at the US Open - despite a 24-6 record on hardcourts this season - continued a wretched run in Flushing Meadows, where he's reached the third round only once in eight attempts. Andy Roddick could empathise with Ljubicic - he was stunned in the first round last year. This time, he gave a fist pump toward coach Jimmy Connors, and walked off the court with his arms and head held high. He still has more tennis to play at the US Open. Roddick bounced back from last year's upset by overpowering Florent Serra 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 and drawing encouraging claps from Connors. In the women's singles, second-seed Justine Henin-Hardenne got off to a clean start, breezing past Maria Elena Camerin 6-2, 6-1. First replay Mardy Fish also won - and became the answer to a tennis trivia question. With instant replay being used for the first time at a Grand Slam event, Fish made the first challenge. He contested a sideline call that went against him, but the ruling was upheld in his 6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Simon Greul of Germany. Asked how he felt to make history, Fish laughed and said he wasn't sure if he was first. Former champions Henin-Hardenne (2003), Roddick (2003), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004) and Lindsay Davenport (1998) all won their openers. Also on the women's side, No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia downed Laura Granville 6-1, 6-4; No. 6 Kuznetsova beat Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; No. 10 Davenport defeated Klara Zakopalova 6-1, 6-4; No. 21 Shahar Peer beat Vasilisa Bardina 6-2, 6-2; No. 22 Katarina Srebotnik topped Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-3; No. 26 Marion Bartoli defeated Olga Poutchkova 6-4, 6-0; No. 28 Ai Sugiyama beat Zuzana Ondraskova 6-1, 6-0; and No. 33 Vera Zvonareva beat Marta Domachowska 7-6 (4), 6-3. On the men's side, No. 6 Tommy Robredo of Spain beat Flavio Saretta of Brazil, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny of Russia defeated No. 19 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, 7-5, 6-1, 6-3, and 20th-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Donald Young 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1. (AP)