Djokovic, Blake win openers at U.S. Open

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NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic and sixth-seeded American James Blake were among the first-round winners Tuesday in the men's division at the U.S. Open.

Djokovic, a French Open and Wimbledon semifinalist, defeated Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Djokovic recently won a Masters Series tournament in Montreal, beating the top-three players in the world at the time -- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.

Blake, fresh off a title in New Haven last week, beat American Michael Russell 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Their match lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes.

Former U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated American Amer Delic 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Hewitt won the Open in 2001. He has reached at least the Open quarterfinals for seven straight years and was the 2004 runner-up to Federer.

In other action involving winning seeded players, No. 12 Croat Ivan Ljubicic beat Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1; No. 20 Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina beat American Michael McClune 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0); No. 23 Argentine Juan Monaco beat Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5; and No. 31 Austrian Jurgen Melzer beat Argentine Diego Hartfield 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.