CNN.com - Roddick routs Nadal at U.S. Open
Ava Arnold NEW YORK -- Defending champion Andy Roddick lifted home spirits at the U.S. Open with a 6-0 6-3 6-4 demolition of Rafael Nadal.
The second seed took the first set in just 19 minutes and matched his own serving speed record with a 152mph ace as his Spanish opponent was blitzed off course.
Roddick and Andre Agassi are the only American men to reach the third round -- the worst showing by the U.S. in tournament history.
"I felt like I played really well for the first two sets," Roddick said.
"I kind of had a concentration lapse at the start of the third set but I was able to come through in the end."
Roddick next faces Argentine 29th seed Guillermo Canas who beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-4 7-5 6-1.
Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, another former Flushing Meadow champion also advanced in style with a hard-fought 7-6 6-1 6-2 win over Moroccan Hicham Arazi.
The erratic Arazi had two set points in the first set tiebreaker, but he squandered both feeble errors and never got back into the match.
"He's very flashy and capable of coming up with some great shots," said fourth seed Hewitt, the 2001 champion who arrived in New York with a 10-match winning streak.
"When you get in a tiebreak against a player like him it can be a bit awkward. He's got a crafty kind of game and you have to try to dictate play against him. But I wasn't as aggressive as I needed to be in the first set."
Hewitt next faces Feliciano Lopez of Spain who beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5 7-5 6-7 1-6 6-2.
The biggest casualty of Friday's second round play was Spanish seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who capitulated to Austrian Stefan Koubek after battling through five sets with an adductor injury.
After winning four tournaments, including the French Open, last year, the injury-plagued Ferrero has failed to win a title this year and has crashed out of the last three Grand Slams in the early rounds.
"I want to forget this year," said Ferrero after his 7-6 4-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 defeat.
"It's more frustrating than you can imagine. I don't think I have played one tournament this year at 100 percent fit."
Koubek, who reeled off five games in a row and then finished the match with an ace, goes on to play Swedish 28th seed Joachim Johansson who beat Jan-Michael Gambill of the U.S. 6-4 7-5 7-5.
Argentine eighth seed David Nalbandian also made an early exit, losing 6-7 6-4 7-5 2-6 6-4 to Russian Mikhail Youzhny, while French 12th seed Sebastian Grosjean was ousted by Tommy Haas of Germany, 6-4 6-4 1-6 6-1.