James Ward and Alijaz Bedene both took to the courts at Flushing Meadows for their round one matches but they would have differing results with Alijaz Bedene benefitting from a walkover versus Ernest Gulbis, whereas James Ward lost in straight sets to Thomasz Bellucci, the 30th seed.
WARD v BELLUCI
James Ward had made the main draw of the US Open due to his excellent run at Wimbledon, where he reached the third round, this propelled him up the rankings and into the top 100 for the first time. Results since that time have been indifferent, although the Brit has entered ATP 250 events instead of challenger events, even with the results going against him, the Brit has shown the will to fight. Ward took to the court against the 30th seed from Brazil Thomas Belluci. In the first set the Brazilian appeared to have quickly adapted to the humid court conditions better than the Brit. Ward was broken in the first game of the match, and the Brazlian took full advantage, racing out to a 2-0 lead.
The Brit held the next service game to be one break of serve down, unfortunately the Brazilian managed to gain break point chances on the next service games. Ward was close to holding serve again, however the seeded player was able to take the opportunties, and sealed the first set 6-1. Moving into the second set and the Brit seemed to adjust to the humid conditions, playing better. More break point chances came and went for Ward, but he was holding his serve to keep the set level. At 5-5 the Brazilian was finally able to break the Brit in the set, and then served out to take the second set 7-5.
The final set started better for the Brazilian as again he broke Ward early. This time however, it was the only break of serve the Brazilian was to get. With the Brit holding serve from 0-40 down in some games, Ward was not going away quietly. Belluci though proved his ranking when he served the match out taking the set 6-3, defeating the Brit in straight sets.
It was Ward's sixth first round loss in a row and going into the key semi final against Australia in the Davis Cup raises big questions for captain Leon Smith.
BEDENE V GULBIS
Alijaz Bedene and Ernest Gulbis were next up on court. The Latvian and the Brit were both playing for a place in round two. This was going to be a tricky match for the Brit as Gulbis can be inconsistent, so it would depend on which version showed up. In the first set, it appeared that the Gulbis that wanted to play had arrived, as the players exchanged holds, until Gulbis took advantage in game seven and broke the Brit. This was the decisive break needed as the Latvian took the set 6-3.
In set two and the British #2 was still keeping level with the Latvian, and this time it was the Brit that got the break needed, sealing the set 6-4. The third set was underway in the still very humid conditions. The Latvian started to struggle in the conditions, as the Brit appeared to be breaking at will, taking an early 3-0 lead. At this point the Latvian decided enough was enough, and retired from the match to hand Bedene the place in round two. Not even all the way through the first round and already there have been 10 retirements.
Bedene will now face American Donald Young, who defeated the talented Giles Simon in a fice set thriller when Young came from two sets down.