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'Another tough day in the office'
Dinara Safina was forced to once again defend her number one ranking after squeezing by unheralded Kristina Barrois at the US Open on Thursday, her second successive struggle against an unseeded opponent.
"Nobody will take it away from me," the explosive 23-year-old Russian, who has yet to win a grand slam, told reporters about her lofty ranking.
Safina had 15 double faults and 38 unforced errors during a two-hour, 13-minute affair against Barrois. But she played the big points well, at least well enough, and walked away with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
"There are so many players who won a grand slam and where they are now?," asked Safina. "Nowhere. Some of the players you don't even know that they won a grand slam. You look and say like, 'Oh, my gosh, she won?'
"But number one will always stay there. The people will remember you by number one, not by winning a grand slam."
Safina would dearly love to silence her critics by winning the Open. But until she does, the questions about her worthiness as the world's best player will linger.
Against Barrois, Safina yelled at herself, whacked her racket against the court, and displayed general disgust with her play.
But, despite being down a break in the final set, she managed to win. That, at least to Barrois, means Safina has the grittiness to be the world's top-ranked player.
"At the end, she had a lot of pressure and was serving good," said the 67th-ranked German. "She had two or three aces in one game. That's how a number one should play.
"It's not easy for her because everyone is asking when is she going to win a grand slam. Perhaps she will do it here."
Safina, who needed three sets to defeat Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska in the opening round, volunteered a mild thanks to the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium for offering their encouragement.
She gave a slight wave to the adoring legion but offered no hint of a smile. Perhaps she was already thinking of her third-round opponent, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
At the beginning of her post-match news conference, Safina looked at reporters and sighed.
"Another tough day in the office," she said.
'Maybe I overplayed a bit in the summer'
For Elena Dementieva, it turns out more was less.
The Russian's hectic build-up to the US Open included winning the Toronto Cup last month but her efforts caught up with her on Thursday when she was stunned 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 by American teenager Melanie Oudin in the second round.
As the fourth seed, Dementieva was regarded as one of the favourites for the title but she was outplayed by the 17-year-old and matched her worst showing at Flushing Meadows.
"Maybe I overplayed a bit in the summer," said Dementieva, who reached at least the semi-finals in her three tournaments between Wimbledon and the US Open.
Typically, she refused to make an excuses and was generous in her praise for world number 70 Oudin, the third-highest ranked American behind Serena and Venus Williams.
"For sure it is disappointing," she said. "I was really hoping to play well here but I just didn't feel the way I should feel. The match today was not exciting.
"But I think she played really well. She was very positive and going for the shots, going for the winners. It was just a very solid game from her."
Dementieva reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year and has been one of the most consistent players on hard courts.
But she was constantly forced on to the defensive by the enterprising Oudin and Dementieva predicted good things for the American, who also reached the last 16 at Wimbledon.
"I think she's very talented," Dementieva said. "She was not afraid. She was playing very aggressively, really enjoying this atmosphere, the crowd support and really going for the winners.
"It's just the beginning, but it looks like she has a good future."
Djokovic breaks no sweat
Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia rolled into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over error prone Australian Carsten Ball on Thursday.
Djokovic cashed in one service break in each set against the 155th-ranked Ball, who made the Serbian work for them as he fended off 13 other break point opportunities.
Ball belted in nine aces but also produced seven double faults and 45 unforced errors overall in the 109-minute match.
Djokovic, runner-up to Roger Federer in the 2007 championship, will next play American qualifier Jesse Witten.
Heartbroken Jankovic falls to Shvedova
Fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, playing with a heavy heart against a free-spirited opponent, was beaten 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 by Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the second round on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Jankovic, last year's runner-up, learned before the match that her grandmother had passed away in Serbia.
"I wasn't really on the court," Jankovic told reporters through a WTA Tour representative after choosing not to hold the usual post-match press conference.
"My grandmother died, and I was very close to her. I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court. I really tried my best to be there and to try to play but it was really hard."
Jankovic battled the big-hitting Shvedova for two hours, 40 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium before falling.
She won a second-set tiebreaker 7-4 to force a third set and held two match points at 6-4 in the decider before her 55th-ranked opponent took the last four points, sealing victory with her sixth ace.
"You could see I was not happy on the court," said the usually exuberant Jankovic. "I was really suffering. I tried to think about my tennis but I felt like I was so late and so slow. You know, I couldn't even watch the ball."
The big-hitting, 21-year-old Shvedova, who plays a huge forehand and two-fisted backhand, was on the attack throughout against the former world number one, registering 45 winners to 27 for the counter-punching Jankovic.
Jankovic said Shvedova gave it her all and took advantage of her opportunity in the year's last grand slam.
"When you are playing a player like that... they play against a top seed and they're serving 120 miles per hour, they're hitting every shot.
"They're really not thinking out there. They're just playing freely because they have nothing to lose. That was the case today with her."
Jankovic has had a disappointing season, struggling with her game after bulking up with added muscle and dealing with an illness to her mother.
"So there are more important things in life than tennis," she said. "When you think about it, this is just a small event compared to somebody in your family who dies."
Upsets have not made path easier
A rash of startling upsets on Maria Sharapova's side of the US Open draw has not elevated the Russian's chances of winning her second title at Flushing Meadows, the three-times grand slam winner said.
Fourth seed Elena Dementieva and number five Jelena Jankovic were unexpectedly bounced from the final grand slam on Thursday and are no longer on Sharapova's radar screen.
Sharapova, however, refused to see that as an opportunity.
"Just because other people are struggling doesn't make me a bigger contender," Sharapova said after routing 17-year-old American wildcard Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1 in a second-round match under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"I'm a contender when I'm in the draw. That's the way I look at it. I play one match at a time.
"I mean, other people's struggles don't make my draw or anything else in my path to a grand slam easier."
Next up for the Sharapova will be Melanie Oudin, the 17-year-old giant-killer who produced the biggest upset of the tournament when she stunned Dementieva 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Sharapova said she saw some of the match and when "Melanie had to step it up, she certainly did."
"In the times when she could have made errors, she came up with some really good shots," said Sharapova, who won the Open in 2006. "I've got a tough round ahead of me.
"I'm sure she's going to swing and have nothing to lose, which she doesn't. But I'm looking forward to that."
The popular 22-year-old Sharapova, still trying to shake off the rust from last October's shoulder surgery, concedes Oudin might be the crowd favourite at Flushing Meadows.
"That's totally understandable," she said. "We're in New York City. I'm a Russian playing against a young, up and coming girl that has a tremendous amount of potential.
"It would be strange if they weren't rooting for her."
Roddick romps into third round
Andy Roddick used a rocket serve and superior court coverage to romp to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marc Gicquel of France to reach the third round on Thursday.
The fifth-seeded American boomed 13 aces past Gicquel, who sprayed 37 errors around Arthur Ashe Stadium to lose by the same score as his third-round defeat by Roddick at Roland Garros.
Roddick faced only one break point in the match, which was in the final game, but he turned that away with a sizzling ace.
Two points later an off-balance half-volley from Gicquel floated wide to end it.
Roddick, whose 2003 triumph makes him the last Open winner other than Roger Federer, next faces compatriot John Isner, who earlier defeated Turkey's Marsel Ilhan in straight sets.
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