No sweat for Federer

NEW YORK (AP):

After putting on a clinic during the match, Roger Federer gave another one afterward.

Prompted in the on-court interview after his 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 US Open victory over Israel's Dudi Sela yesterday to give the tennis players in the stands a few quick pointers about how to dial in their serve, Federer offered this advice.

"It all starts with a good ball toss," he said after moving easily to the third round. "Sometime, people think it's just the swing, but I think the ball toss creates your motion after that. You should keep your elbow high on the serve, then the better you get, the more you can use rotation and legs."

It worked great against Sela. Federer finished with six aces and maxed out at 128 mph in what looked very much like a tune-up - a second-round win that took only 1 hour, 17 minutes.

Federer came into the US Open as the third seed and is trying to avoid going an entire year without a major victory for the first time since 2002. He turned 30 on August 8 and questions often revolve around how long he can stay at the elite level.

Against the 93rd-ranked Sela, though, none of this was an issue. Federer improved to 58-6 for his career at the US Open.

"It's tough to play him, especially when you're not at your best and on centre court," Sela said. "On Court 25, maybe I'd have a bigger chance. I had no chance against his serve."

Walkover

In other early action, No. 16 Ana Ivanovic got a walkover when her opponent, Petra Cetkovska, pulled out with an injured quadriceps.

"It's never nice to win this way," said Ivanovic, a former No. 1 moving her way back up the rankings after a drop into the 60s last year. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to be through to the next round."

No. 7 Francesca Schiavone also had an easy day in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Mirjana Lucic.

No. 11 Jelena Jankovic and No. 18 Roberta Vinci also advanced in straight sets, while No. 10 Andrea Petkovic needed three sets to get by Zheng Jie of China.

On the men's side, ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 7-5, 6-0, 6-0, while No. 7 Gael Monfils split the first two sets against Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.