Guccione progresses at Flushing Meadows
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Tough battle... Chris Guccione. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer, file photo)
Australian tennis player Chris Guccione won through to the second round of the US Open in New York this morning in four sets.
Guccione defeated American Jesse Levine 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6).
His next opponent will be Czech Radek Stepanek.
He told Fox Sports he is looking forward to his next match against Stepanek.
"I had a good match against him in Sydney, but then he cleaned me up pretty good in Memphis I think it was so hopefully I can get a bit of revenge on him here," he said.
Guccione is only the second Australian to advance after teenager Jessica Moore won her opening match yesterday.
Former world number one Andy Roddick roared past grand slam veteran Fabrice Santoro of France 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 to complete the men's first round.
Roddick, the 2003 Open champion, lost just two points on his booming service as he raced through the opening set in 25 minutes and never looked back in booking a second-round match against up-and-coming teenager Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.
The eighth-seeded Roddick blasted 41 winners past the overmatched Frenchman, including 15 aces. The American lost just four points on his first serve the entire match.
"I felt good. That's the best I've felt in four, five months," Roddick said.
"Something about this place always gets me energised."
Davydenko moving on
Meanwhile, An ATP drama which has stretched for more than a year is wearing down Nikolay Davydenko, who still managed to produce a rare easy win to reach the second round of the US Open.
Instead of a struggle, the 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 sweep of Israeli Dudi Sela was a tonic for the fifth-seeded, under-fire Russian.
Davydenko has been on tenterhooks since August, 2007, after being named in a potential match-fix at an event in Poland after losing a match which he had been tipped to easily win.
He and his camp have vigorously denied any claims of impropriety over an anonymous contest which somehow generated a massive $7 million in online betting.
Even after a long-running probe by tennis authorities, nothing is settled. But the drama is draining to a player who once defined over-achievement by playing nearly non-stop all season long.
"I believe it (the probe) will finish this year for sure," said the fifth seed, who has lost the last two New York semi-finals to Roger Federer.
Davydenko said he has not heard from the ATP in nearly a year, which he interprets as a positive sign.
"I don't know what's happening now. For me I think it's good. I'm trying to think only of the tennis," he added.
-ABC/AFP
