Late twist for Djokovic

Seeds sail through in straight sets in opening round in New York

Last updated: 28th August 2008

Late twist for Djokovic

Djokovic: Injury concern

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Novak Djokovic suffered an injury scare in his routine 6-3 6-4 6-3 win over Arnaud Clement in the opening round of the US Open.

The third seed needed treatment on court after he turned his ankle when he slipped, hitting his forehand with his left foot, midway through the third set.

By then the Australian Open champion was already well on his way to a comfortable victory against his French opponent.

Djokovic admitted afterwards that he expected to be fine by the time he plays in the second round against either American Robert Kendrick or another Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut.

Fine

"I was thinking about it," said the bronze medallist from the Beijing Olympics when asked if the injury had bothered him.

"I was a bit conscious with my movement rather than it being painful. I think I'll be just fine in two days."

Nikolay Davydenko also began in impressive fashion in New York, cruising to a 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over Israel's Dudi Sela.

The Russian has not won back-to-back matches on the ATP Tour since winning on clay at Warsaw in June but he belied his bad run of form with a professional performance.

Late stutter

His only stutter came when he was broken when serving for the match, Sela only delaying the inevitable against the two-time US Open semi-finalist.

Davydenko - who is in the same half of the draw as second seed Roger Federer - will go up against Argentina's Agustin Calleri in the second round.

"It was very important for me that I play very well here, to come back as a top 10 player and play very good," the fifth seed said.

"I played good for a first round because I can be nervous and my confidence is not so great at the beginning of a tournament. I played well all three sets, fighting well with very good concentration."