New York:
For the second consecutive year, a popular highly ranked American player was ousted from the United States Open in a match marred by a foot-fault controversy.
A year ago, Serena Williams had a meltdown when she was penalized on match point in the semifinals for threatening a lineswoman. On Wednesday night, Andy Roddick reacted with sustained anger and sarcasm when he was called for a foot fault in the midst of another devastating loss at the tournament he loves so much.
Two days after his 28th birthday, Roddick, the No. 9 seed, was upset in the second round by Janko Tipsarevic, a wily 26-year-old from Serbia who played far beyond his No. 44 ranking.
Tipsarevic withstood the momentum that Roddick initially seized in the third set after the dispute with the match officials, including the tournament referee Brian Early, and eventually won, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4), to reach the third round for the first time in his career.
It was also the first time Roddick had lost in the second round of the Open and only the second time he had lost before the third round since winning his only title here in 2003.
After a difficult summer in which a bout with mononucleosis sapped his strength, Roddick entered the tournament uncertain of his stamina but looking to live up to the hopes of the fans who have consistently supported him here since his first tournament in 2000.
But Tipsarevic, playing smart, aggressive tennis, brushed aside a lopsided first set and then began to stagger Roddick with aggressive body blows. He effectively returned Roddick's sizzling serves and then punished him with numerous backhand winners down the line.
In the tie breaker, Tipsarevic won four straight points to take a commanding lead and then won the match on a soft backhand volley, leaving Roddick helpless at the net.
Tipsarevic refused to allow Roddick's protestations of the foot-fault call disrupt his concentration.
Trailing by 2-5 in the third set, Roddick was called for the foot fault (he was called for three over all) on the first service of the first point of the game, a call he disputed because he rarely is called for that infraction. Roddick turned and asked the lineswoman which foot touched the line and was told that it was his right, or back foot, even though it was his left foot.
Astonished because his right foot rarely crosses his left during his thunderous serves, Roddick seized on the discrepancy and began to complain to the chair umpire, Enric Molina, and then proceeded to ridicule the lineswoman, even though television replays clearly showed that Roddick did foot-fault, only it was his left foot, not the right.
"Not once in my entire career has my right foot gone ahead of my left foot," he said. "Ever."
At one point he began to question the overall quality of the officials to Early, who was sitting nearby, and remarked, "Call 1-800-ref."
Unlike Williams, Roddick was not even issued a warning and tried to use the row to energize his flagging rally.
He immediately netted the next serve for a double fault and swore, and fell behind, 0-40, before coming came back to win the game. But he lost the next game on a terrific backhand winner by Tipsarevic.
After the set, Roddick left the court, still swearing audibly, but by the time he returned the lineswoman had been taken off the court and replaced.
Tipsarevic had 66 winners, Roddick 40.
Now, John Isner is the highest-seeded (18th) American left in the tournament. The last time Inser played in a first-round match at a Grand Slam tournament, he needed 138 games in the fifth set, and more than 11 hours over all to defeat Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in the longest match in history. On Wednesday night, Isner dragged a badly sprained right ankle around Armstrong Stadium, but needed nine fewer hours and only three sets to win.
After dismissing Frederico Gil of Portugal, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, in 1 hour 57 minutes, the 18th-seeded Isner noted that he is bound to fare better in his second-round match at the Open than he did at Wimbledon when he was wiped off the court in three quick sets.
"I don't know the exact time of my match tonight," Isner said, "but, obviously, it was a lot less time on the court. So for my second-round match I should be a little bit fresher than I was at Wimbledon."
Isner took a month off to recharge and then reached the final of a tournament in Atlanta. When he arrived in Washington for the next stop on the tour, his body succumbed to lingering exhaustion and he was eliminated in the second round.
"In D.C. it all kind of hit me," he said.
So he took more time off, skipped Toronto and went to the Cincinnati Masters, where he said he felt good. But whether because of the lingering effects of Wimbledon or just a freak accident, Isner stumbled and fell while serving against David Nalbandian and sprained his ankle.
The injury kept him in bed for several days, and Isner was told he would need four to six weeks to recover, all but eliminating the possibility of playing at the Open. But after a comprehensive treatment plan, including the use of a frequency specific microcurrent machine, Isner recovered.
"Since the injury, I was pretty much horizontal for more than a week, so I didn't really know how it was going to feel," said Isner, who had 19 aces Wednesday. "But my ankle was not an issue tonight.
"I want to do well at big tournaments and this is my favorite tournament in the world and the one I want to do the best at," he said.
In the first match of the night session in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Kim Clijsters, the defending champion and No. 2 seed, overcame a shaky start to cruise through her second-round match, defeating Sally Peers, 6-2, 6-1, in 56 minutes.
Clijsters lost the two games of the first set on her serve and made 15 unforced errors in the set before finally settling down in the second and taking command.
"It takes time and I just want, every match, to grow," she said in an on-court interview, "and when the players get better, hopefully I will play better."
Earlier in the day, Melanie Oudin, the pint-size American teenager who electrified the Open a year ago, lost her magic against Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, falling, 6-2, 7-5, and ending her chance to write a sequel to her scintillating debut run.
The 18-year-old Oudin, who reached last year's quarterfinals, entered the Open knowing she would not sneak up on anyone. In the first set, Oudin had her serve broken three times and could muster nothing to rattle Bondarenko, who is seeded 29th. Her forehand was unreliable and responsible for many of her 17 unforced errors.
"I think the nerves got the best of me today a little bit, especially in the first set," Oudin said. "Second set, I started playing a lot better."
At Ashe Stadium, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia traded the glare of the spotlight that used to follow her glittering smile and powerful game for the glare of a morning sun and lots of empty seats for the first match of the day. It was at once a sign of how far she had fallen and how she might just bounce back.
Ivanovic, 22, needed only 56 minutes to trounce Zheng Jie of China, 6-3, 6-0, with Ivanovic blasting 22 winners to Zheng's 5. Though Ivanovic was the No. 1 player in the world only two years ago, she is unseeded here, while Zheng was seeded 21st.