Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina suffered another early exit from a Grand Slam event when she was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the first round of the US Open Monday. The Russian, who has slipped 49 places to No. 50 in the space of 12 injury-hit months, fought hard but was dumped out after a battle lasting one hour, 46 minutes. However, defending champion Kim Clijsters survived a second-set wobble to reach the second round by defeating Greta Arn of Hungary 6-0, 7-5. India's Sania Mirza continued her run of good form in New York by defeating Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-3, 6-2. Roger Federer nearly saw the highest-ranked obstacle in his path to the semifinals eliminated in the first round, but Robin Soderling survived a Monday struggle against a Grand Slam debutante. French Open runner-up Soderling outlasted 214th-ranked Austrian qualifier Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 5-7, 6-4 after three hours and 52 minutes. He will next face American Taylor Dent or Colombian Alejandro Falla. Swedish fifth seed Soderling ousted Federer in a French Open quarterfinal, ending the Swiss star's run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals, and the two are on course to meet in the US Open quarterfinals if form holds. Also advancing on day one of the year's last Slam were Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, who beat American Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, and US ninth seed Andy Roddick, who ousted France's Stephane Robert 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Davydenko, whose best US Open runs came in 2006 and 2007 when he lost to eventual champion Federer in the semifinals, will next face Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who defeated Germany's Simon Greul 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Kei Nishikori advanced when Kazak rival Evgeny Korolev retired with a right elbow injury with the 147th-ranked Japanese qualifier ahead 7-6 (7-0), 5-2. Nishikori next faces Croatian 11th seed Marin Cilic. Croatian qualifier Ivan Dodig, ranked 146th, advanced when Chilean 27th seed Fernando Gonzalez retired with a knee injury trailing 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 1-0. Clijsters was again in a dominant mood on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court. The 27-year-old Belgian second seed will next play 19-year-old Australian qualifier Sally Peers, who impressed in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada. There was a more comfortable winning start for this year's surprise French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who coasted past Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-0 in just 58 minutes. Among others to go through early on were Russia's Elena Dementieva, who beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1, 6-2. Elena Baltacha meanwhile gave a much needed boost to British tennis by defeating Petra Martic of Croatia, who beat her at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-2, while American Melanie Oudin, a huge crowd favourite here last year when she reached the quarterfinals, ousted Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-3, 6-0 Sam Stosur survived a tough examination of her US Open title credentials Monday when she recovered to beat Russian Elena Vesnina 3-6, 7-6, 6
