Federer cruises into U.S. Open third round

Roger Federer breezed past Dudi Sela in three sets, cruising into U.S. Open third round on Thursday. The world No. 3 needed just 77 minutes to dispatch his Israeli opponent with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory. The 30-year-old had been in a little trouble in his first-round win over Santiago Giraldo, blaming the slow courts in the night session, but the second round proved no such problems for the Swiss, who had won a all-time leading 16 Grand Slam titles in open era. Federer played particularly impressive on his serve, dropping only seven points during the match and never giving Sela a sniff of a break. The five-times former US Open champion broke for the first time in the sixth game and two breaks in both the second and third sets allowed him to clinch victory. "I had not much trouble on my serve, and from the baseline I also thought I had the upper hand. When it's like that, obviously it's tough for the opponent, but I just think I was superior today. It was a good match for me in breezy conditions. It was a bit tricky early on to find the rhythm. That's why I was happy to get the first break in the first set," said Federer. Federer made 25 unforced errors, three more than his opponent, despite the one-sided scoreline, but he considered the 30 winners more important. He said: "I quickly realized I actually had a good rhythm on my serve. So from that standpoint it was normal to make errors. "I don't go into a match telling myself more than 10 errors is a terrible match because I expect myself to hit errors because I know I will hit a lot of winners too. It all matters when they happen." Federer will next face the 27th seed Marin Cilic, who enjoyed a similar easy job in dismantling the rising Australian star Bernard Tomic in 6-1, 6-0, 6-2. In other actions, the ninth seed Tomas Berdych, the former Wimbledon finalist, beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 6-0, 6-0. Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, seeded 20th, saw off Philipp Petzschner 6-0, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and the veteran German Tommy Haas defeated Alejandro Falla 7-6 (5), 6-1, 7-5. Eleventh-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went through Ukraine's qualifier Sergei Bubka in straight sets of 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. There were seeded casualties either with 29th seeded Michael Llodra crashing 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to the giant South African Kevin Anderson, and Radek Stepanek becoming the 15th player at the tournament to withdraw, the Czech pulling out when 6-4, 6-1, 2-0 down to Juan Monaco.