Frenchman Llodra eliminates seventh seeded German in straight sets

Michael Llodra eliminates seventh seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets

Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych crashed out of the US Open in the first round, losing in straight sets to France's Michael Llodra yesterday.

Michael Llodra stretches for the ball during his win over Tomas Berdych in the US Open first round yesterday. PIC/AFP

The 30-year-old left-hander had lost in the first round in 22 of his previous 36 grand slam singles events, but drove seventh seed Berdych to distraction with his serve and volley tactics.

Ljubicic loses too
Berdych was not the only seed to fall on day three, with 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beaten in four sets by 18-year-old American qualifier Ryan Harrison.

"The weather was my biggest enemy today," admitted 31-year-old Ljubicic. Throughout my career I struggled with the heat. I'm not really coping really well with that, and I tried all kind of different tactics to deal with it. I never find the right one.

"Today was no different. Then everything else just comes together. I was not returning well, serving well, and Ryan was on top of his game. When everything gets together, it was a pretty comfortable win for him.

"I sweat a lot and I just feel really bad. I mean, I can't move. It gets to me really quickly actually. Already in the first set I was struggling with it. It's really a physical problem."

Asked if he would be in favour of the 'heat rule' ufffd which allows players a 10-minute break after the second set - being applied to the men's game as well as the women's, Ljubicic joked: "I would be in favour of an indoor tour altogether, if you ask me.

"We saw some players struggling big time. There are comments saying it's the same thing for everybody, but really it's not. Somebody is struggling more than others, and I think it's just not fun.

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