Ana Ivanovic

There's probably only one person in the world who wasn't impressed with Venus Williams thoroughly swift dispatch of Ana Ivanovic. Her dad.

“I don’t think she played that great today,” said Richard Williams. “The second serve wasn’t doing anything. Venus wasn’t turning. She wasn’t meeting the serve return. She hit too many serves out.”

But Mr. Williams, she won 6-4, 6-2 against the no. 4 player in the world.

“Sometimes tennis scores doesn’t reflect how a person plays. In my opinion, Venus played bad.”  read more »

It’s the match of the tournament: the streaking Venus Williams versus the future star Ana Ivanovic.

The Serbian has never beaten Venus—or Serena for that matter.

“They both play very powerful,” she told me two weeks ago. “It’s still something I have to practice hard on because they don’t give me much time to play my game. They dominate—they are the ones dictating.”  read more »

After last night's exhilarating action, we've got some great tennis to follow up.

At 11am, Justine Henin plays at Ashe while Novak Djokovic plays at Louis Armstrong. In the afternoon, Ana Ivanovic, Tim Henman, Marion Bartoli and Serena Williams all play.

Lleyton Hewitt will play on Louis Armstrong at night, while Venus Williams and the injured Rafael Nadal play at Ashe.

Match to watch for: Mardy Fish v. Tommy Robredo at 1pm on Ashe. Fish is hot and he gets the big stage to take on the nunmber 8 player in the world. A solid chance for a major upset.

Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Marat Safin have all cruised to straight-set victories.

Venus looked a little shaky -- she had six double faults -- and Ivanovic was broken early before both settled down and steamrolled their opponents.

The most impressive performance of the afternoon goes to American Robby Ginepri, now ranked 64th, who won a blowout match 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.

Ginepri was a semifinalist in 2005 (he lost to Agassi) and was inside the Top 15 before turning in a 9-16 performance this year and falling to pieces.

According to this very good profile in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Ginepri a month ago named as his coach Jose Higueras, the guru who once guided Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Jim Courier.

After a slow day yesterday, we're back to a really strong lineup of matches today.

Rafael Nadal debuts at the Open at Arthur Ashe, right after Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams finish up against their unknown opponents.

Streaky Marat Safin plays at 11 this morning on Louis Armstrong, followed by Justine Henin. Next door, at the very loud Grandstand there will be a delightful lineup full of Americans: Meghann Shaughnessy, Robby Ginepri, Mardy Fish and upstart Ahsha Rolle.

On Court 11, Elena Dementieva plays the second match, followed by former French Open Champion Carlos Moya. Over at Court 13 there are back-to-back matches featuring Spaniard Tommy Robredo and the lovable Marion Bartoli.

Match of the Day: giant American John Isner takes on South African Rik De Voest (10 inches shorter!) in the battle of 100-something seeds at night time in Louis Armstrong. The winner gets a crack at Roger Federer. Expect electricity.

We've written about Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, but we haven't mentioned the other Serbian making a major impact on the current field: the 22-year-old no. 3 player in women's tennis, Jelena Jankovic.

Jankovic's ranking has rocketed this year due to a remarkably extensive playing schedule. She's played 80 matches in 2007, compared to Justine Henin's 48 and Maria Sharapova's 42.

Jankovic, who kicks off her US Open play today against Jarmila Gajdosova, said she wouldn't play mixed doubles in Queens– where she won at Wimbledon – because she's overworked.  read more »

Welcome to the New York Observer's U.S. Open blog.

For the next 14 days, Spencer Morgan and I will be in and around the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing gathering stories, game analysis and observations from the tournament.

Stay with us, and please keep in touch (as often as you like) about what we’re doing and what else you’d like to see. We’ll do our best to oblige.  read more »

Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic, 19 and 20, threaten to up-end U.S. Open; McEnroe says he’s better than Roddick; she’s already the hottest.  read more »