2-11

That would be James Blake's career record in 5-set matches at the Slams. This is relevant because Donald Young just took the fourth set, 6-4, as the clock strikes midnight.

A nice, late night in Flushing Meadow...

James Blake is doing a fine job of letting 19-year-old Donald Young hang around, so we're all hanging around too. Blake, the No. 9 seed here, is serving at 2-3 in the fourth. He had Young talking to himself and looking beaten a couple games ago, but here we are, with Young on the verge of breaking for a 4-2 lead in the fourth.

Blake is a solid player, to be sure, and a fan favorite out here, but I have to ask the question: Is there a tennis player on tour who has done less with as much talent as he has? He's never been past the quarters of a Slam and he'll be 29 in December. Might as well be turning 49.

More to come.

"Tighty whities" making a comeback?

Rafael Nadal is known for his wicked forehand, unrelenting power, lightning quick speed -- and uhhh yeah, underwear malfunctions. Upon closer inspection (for the sake of journalism), it seems like Rafa’s preferred old school “tighty whity” is the problem. Fruit of the Loom, what are you waiting for? Develop some “wedgie proof” undies and smack the Nadal brand on them!

Nadal chases record tennis prize money

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal was presented with the 2008 Olympus US Open Series men’s trophy before his post game press conference. This gives Nadal the chance to compete for $2.5 million, the largest payout in tennis history at the 2008 US Open -- ($1.5 million for winning the US Open and a $1 million bonus for winning the US Open and the Olympus US Open Series).

The US Open Series is the six-week summer tennis "season" leading up to the US Open that links the ATP Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments together.

OK, Coco did not get it done

But to be fair, a first U.S. Open and it's Ashe Stadium, at night, after the parade of champions... 6-3, 6-1 ain't bad. She showed a lot of poise afterwards too.

Oh, and del Potro has rallied to take a two sets to one lead over Canas.

Coco is holding her own; Martin Del Potro is not

Coco Vandeweghe, 16 and with a strong athletic pedigree -- her grandfather, Dr. Ernie Vandeweghe, went to Oceanside HS and played six seasons with the Knicks in the early 1950s, and her uncle, Kiki, is the Nets' GM -- just dropped the first set to No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic, 6-3. Coco hits the ball hard, but unsurprisingly in her first Open, she's a little nerve-wracked.

Over in Armstrong, Juan Martin Del Potro, the men's 17th seed and winner of 19 straight matches (and four titles) coming in, is down a set and a break to journeyman Guillermo Canas. del Potro won twice on hard courts in the States (L.A. and D.C.), so it was thought he could make a run here. Time to pick it up if he wants to do that.

A few more seeds hit the skids

Women's No. 22 Maria Kirilenko departs, courtesy of Austria's Tamira Paszek, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Men's No. 27 seed Feliciano Lopez is out after a five-set loss to Austria's Juergen Melzer. And, for those bemoaning the lack of young American men on the rise, we give you 24-year-old Ryler De Heart (yes, his real name) from Tampa, who qualified for the main draw and nipped veteran Olivier Rochus in five sets, 6-4 in the fifth.

For his efforts, De Heart gets Rafael Nadal on Wednesday. Nice knowing you, kid.

The greats are arriving

Chris Evert, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Rod Laver, Mats Wilander, Virginia Wade, Guillermo Vilas, Maria Sharapova (not playing this year due to injury) and this woman to the left, Gabriela Sabatini, were all filing in a short time ago for the past champions ceremony tonight in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

This photo, from 2006, does not really do Sabatini justice. She looks pretty great -- as do all the other past champs. Tennis seems to be a good sport if you want to stay fit and young-looking into your 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond.

Lendl, who has five daughters as competitive in golf and show-jumping as he was on the tennis court, had a few amusing things to say, particularly on the subject of the Williams sisters.

"They have other things in life they enjoy doing, as they should," he said. "I remember I was criticized often for not having a life outside of tennis, and nothing could have been further from the truth. I had lots of things, I just chose not to share them with everyone. As long as they still love the game, it doesn't matter what else they do."

Lendl was on the board of directors of the Hartford Whalers before they moved to Carolina, and he's a lifelong hockey player and fan.

Chakvetadze out!

No. 10 seed Anna Chakvetadze just got bounced in three sets by Ekaterina Makarova, a 20-year-old lefty from Moscow. It's a never-ending parade of young Russian women who keep knocking each other off.

Nadal wins

But the top seed needs two tiebreaks to shake off qualifier Bjorn Phau (that's pronounced POW!) in a relatively sluggish match. To be fair, it feels awfully sluggish out there in the steamy heat. Thirty-seven unforced errors for Rafa. But hey, he's moving on.

Rafael Nadal looks a bit sloppy, to me

Spent some time in the grandstands watching top-seeded Rafael Nadal play. Much like a 1-16 game in the NCAA Tournament, you expect the top-ranked player in this tournament to cruise. Nadal, at least in the earlygoing, did not cruise.

For a few minutes I actually believed Bjorn Phau of Germany had a shot. But then I came back to my senses, and so did Nadal. After pulling out a tense 7-6 first set, he overpowered Phau in the second set and won 6-3. So he's on his way.

No major upsets yet. Too bad. I like upsets.

Arthur Staple will take you through the rest of the day, blogging and writing a Web column. I'm officially passing the baton. See ya tomorrow.

Elena Dementieva has hard time focusing after gold

Elena Dementieva had some interesting things to say about trying to compete about a week after fulfilling a lifelong dream of winning a gold medal.

So I wrote a Web column about it.

Here's the link.

You might have noticed I've focused on women

That's because there have been no interesting developments on the men's bracket so far. But top seed Rafael Nadal is on the court right now, so we'll address that soon.

Also of note, No. 4 David Ferrer defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Ferrer said, "It's important we win easy the first round, no? More confidence in the next rounds. But I don't think about the Grand Slam. I think with the next match."

Is this the end for Lindsay Davenport?

Lindsay Davenport, speaking after her 6-4, 6-2 victory over Aleksandra Wozniak, said this very well could be the final tournament of her impressive career.

"We'll have to see how I feel, if there is any motivation," she said.

She reiterated that her main reason for unretiring was to play in the Beijing Olympics and then follow up with this U.S. Open.

She did compete in the Olympic doubles, but pulled out of the singles because of a balky right knee. She said she's been dealing with knee issues for a while, but was pleased with how it has felt since the start of the Olympics.

As for her career, she again said her main focus will be on her family, which includes 1-year-old son named Jagger.

Someone asked her if she might be interested in playing long enough to enjoy a major victory with her son, but she just shook her head, side-to-side. Then she laughed.

"Honestly," she said, "the kid has no idea if I won or lost."

And that's not going to change for a few years...

First American woman is eliminated

The first of 15 U.S. women in the U.S. Open was eliminated this morning.

Asia Muhammad lost to Aravane Rezai, 6-2, 6-4.

Even though Muhammad was gone from the tournament before most of her competitors even broke a sweat, she wasn't discouraged.

"As long as you learn from every match, I think it's a good match," she said. "I don't feel too bad. I'm staying positive."

Besides, it was already a good day. She was more than pleased that her last name was correctly spelled on the tournament brackets. Typically, it's misspelled with an ed at the end.

"It was spelled wrong on my birth certificate because the lady didn't ask my mom how to spell it," she said. "We're in the process of fixing that now."

Our first upset watch: Dementieva vs. Amanmuradova

We had our first upset watch of the tournament, although it was brief one...

Fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia had a hard time in the earlygoing with unseeded Akgui Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan before pulling through for a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

But it wasn't without some stress for Dementieva, even if it doesn't show in the final score.

They were tied at 4 in their first set before Dementieva's talent showed its face and she overpowered her opponent for a 6-4 win.

But then in the second set it got worse for the Russian. Amanmuradova actually led 5-3 and had a chance to close out Dementieva and force a third set, with all the momentum on her side. But Amanmuradova crumpled under the press of the moment, and Dementieva won four straight games to advance to the second round.

Crisis averted.

For the record...

I know Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras are retired.

I was being sarcastic...

Why doesn't Long Island produce tennis players?

It's a valid question, I think. We live in a dense area that has its very rich areas. And, hey, let's not glaze over the facts. Tennis, like golf, tends to be a rich person's sport. So why don't we see more tennis players come from Long Island?

Maybe it's the climate. Most of the unseeded men's players are from Florida. As for the women, there's an unseeded player from Upper Saddle River (Kristie Ahn, who faces sixth-seeded Dinara Safina in the first round) and another from Brooklyn (Gail Brodsky, who faces No. 13 Agnes Szavay). Like the men, most of the other unseeded women are from Florida, as well.

My first U.S. Open

So here I am in the media center, one hour and 14 minutes into the 2008 version of the U.S. Open. And let me preface everything I say over the next two weeks with this: I'm at the Open for the first time. So consider me a newbie.

I've been to the National Tennis Center before, but the last time may have been a decade ago for a New York state high school tennis championship.

My Newsday colleague, Jeff Williams, who is sitting to my left, just asked me if I'm an avid tennis follower. I explained that I was a lot of things until 2004, when I became the Yankees beat writer. Once I took that job, all other aspects of my sporting life was put on hold. For better, and for worse.

For the past year I've been reacclimating myself to the sports world outside of baseball, and now it's tennis' turn. So as long as the rain holds up, my plan for today is to walk around, take in the different courses, watch a few matches and learn everything I can about the current landscape of the tennis world.

Along those lines, what's the deal with Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi? I don't see either of them listed on the men's bracket.