Djokovic advances at the U.S. Open

NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic was one of the early men's winners Thursday at the U.S. Open Tennis tournament at New York.

The Serbian was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over unseeded Carsten Ball of Australia.

Americans James Blake and Sam Querrey were winners -- with Blake, the No. 21 seed, beating Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3, and Querrey, seeded 22nd, beating fellow American Kevin Kim 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-4.

Other seeded early winners were No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Fernando Verdasco, No. 14 Tommy Robredo, No. 15 Radek Stepanek and No. 20 Tommy Haas of Germany.

Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick, the fifth seed, was scheduled to play a late match against Frenchman Marc Gicquel.