No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic shook off an injury to his left ankle in the third set and beat Arnaud Clement of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to move into the second round of the US Open on Wednesday. Djokovic rolled the ankle while going for a shot on the right sideline in the fourth game. After receiving on-court treatment, he wrapped up the match with a break of Clement's serve. Jelena Jankovic's leg cramped so badly that she couldn't take another step. But luckily for the No. 2 seed in the US Open, the agony occurred during her post-match run on the treadmill. Anyone who watched could clearly see she left about everything she had out on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday. After Jankovic outlasted Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 she planned to take a 10-minute run on the treadmill but lasted only three when pain flared in the area of a knee injury sustained at Wimbledon. “I couldn't go anymore,” Jankovic said. “My leg was straight and I couldn't bend it. The muscle was in spasm and I had a lot of pain.” While Jankovic escaped an early exit, No. 8 seed Vera Zvonareva couldn't. Zvonareva was upended by Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine 6-3, 6-3 in the tournament's biggest upset yet. Svetlana Kuznetsova shook off an early break and rallied to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Sorana Cirstea of Romania. No. 15 seed Patty Schnyder also moved into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the US Open junior champion two years ago. Fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva advanced over Pauline Parmentier of France 6-2, 6-1, but No. 25 Francesca Schiavone was knocked out by Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, and Zheng Jie of China eliminated No. 26 Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-4. In other men's first-round play, fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 19 seed, moved on with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Santiago Ventura of Spain; No. 18 Nicolas Almagro beat Frank Dancevic of Canada 6-3, 6-4, 7-5; and Dmitry Tursunov, the 26th seed, upended Eduardo Schwank of Argentina 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 7-6 (5). Treatment with ice and stretching and massaging loosened Jankovic's leg enough for her to go back to the locker room to take a shower before she spoke to reporters in a much more comfortable setting. Until then, it was Arvidsson who made her life difficult for the better part of three hours. The combination of not being in match condition following the injury and an array of hard forehands and well-placed drop shots by Arvidsson left Jankovic fighting to get her wind during the 2-hour, 44-minute match. “That was a really tough one,” said Jankovic, who has reached the fourth round in the first three Grand Slam events this year. “As you can see, I am completely out of breath. She really pushed me to the limit.” On Tuesday, Roger Federer began his quest for his fifth consecutive US Open title in stunning fashion with a dominating 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win over Maximo Gonzalez. The second seeded Swiss star lost his world No. 1 ranking last week to Rafael Nadal. He is hoping that another win at Flushing Meadows can salvage a season where he has won just two titles and failed to defend his Australian Open and Wimbledon crowns. Against Gonzalez, he fired 15 aces and hammered 39 winners on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium court in front of a crowd of about 20,000. He also converted seven of 13 break point opportunities and won 73 percent of his first serves. – AP __
