• US Open, Day Two

Plays of the Day: Double trouble

Elena Baltacha attends to the injured Jamie Hampton © Getty Images

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Related Links

• News: Baltacha battles past Hampton
  
• News: Commanding start from Wozniacki
  
• News: Djokovic races through as Niland retires
  
• News: What they Said
  
• Profile: Francesca Schiavone | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | Yanina Wickmayer
• Gallery: US Open: Day Two

US Open: Day Two gallery
Men's round-up: Djokovic through as Niland retires
Women's round-up: Wozniacki in command
British women: Baltacha battles through
What They Said

Double trouble
Thank the stars that Francesca Schiavone has a dream of a backhand is all ESPN has to say after seeing the No. 7 seed fall into the second round with a win over Galina Voskoboeva. The former French Open champion hit a quite stunning 16 double faults during the three-set encounter and it was a bit like car-crash TV at one stage. Eight of those doubles came in the final set and it got to the stage where we thought she might do a Michael Chang and serve underarm. It's back to the practice court for Schiavone.

Not cramping my style
Elena Baltacha deserves tremendous credit for digging in and beating Jamie Hampton in three sets, but some of the gloss was taken off it by the sight of her opponent being forced to retire while lying stricken on the ground. After surviving a barrage from Hampton, Baltacha was firmly in command at 5-1 in the final set when Hampton was struck down by cramp. Anyone who has suffered from cramp will know Hampton was not faking as her leg tensed up in that horrible way. She attempted to get up only to collapse to the ground. Doctors and physios, as well as Baltacha, raced to Hampton's aid and it was a sad way to end a superb match.

One hand is sometimes better than two
Jo-Wilfried Tsongs's two-handed backhand is amongst the best in the game but he has been working on a one-handed version of the shot. He has used it sparingly, but pulled it out at a key stage of the first set of his clash with Lu Yen-hsun. The No. 11 seed was at 0-30 on the Lu serve with the set poised at 2-2. Lu looked in charge of the point after punching a ball deep into the backhand side of Tsonga and advancing to the net. Two hands would not have got the job done, so good was the approach but Tsonga stretched out a solitary limb and flicked the ball across the face of a bewildered Lu for a winner. It set up the only break of the opening set and set the tone for the contest.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled out a special one-handed backhand against Lu © PA Photos

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Stretch it out
Yanina Wickmayer moved into round two with a won over Sorana Cirstea, but she required a helping hand from the physio to do so. The Belgian 20th seed cruised through the first set for the loss of just one game, but it was far harder in the second and at one stage she had the doctor on court. There were a number of people prodding and probing at her back at one stage, while those courtside got an interesting view of, shall we say, her lower back. The result was Wickmayer having to do the sort of exercises that make grown men cry. Still, they seemed to do the trick as she claimed a 6-1 7-5 win.

Sickening stuff
Conor Niland battled through to the main draw at the US Open for the first time in his career and the Irishman was handed a prime slot on Arthur Ashe after drawing Novak Djokovic in round one. With a clash against the world No. 1 and winner of Wimbledon and Australian Open this year, you need to bring your A game to the court. What you don't want to bring is a bout of food poisoning and what you definitely don't want to do on such a big stage is throw up mid-way through your warm-up. Sadly that is what Niland did. And the writing was on the wall from that moment as a drained Niland was beaten 6-0 5-1.

Losing his cool
World No. 98 Andrey Golubev only had his temper to blame in his loss to Rafael Nadal. Serving to level the match at one set apiece, Golubev hit a cunning drop-shot which stretched Nadal. The defending champion scrambled to win the point, but his Kazakhstani opponent felt the ball had already bounced twice - which it clearly did not. Cue Golubev losing the plot. He berated the chair umpire, called for the video replay (which is not allowed on such occasions) and stormed off, muttering to himself in numerous languages. He never regained his composure from that moment, which could help explain his now 18 first round exits in 2011.

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