World no.1 and reigning Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer rollover over his German opponent Bjorn Phau in straight sets to keep himself very much in contention for an unprecedented 6th US Open title. It was clear, right from the outset, that the Swiss was there to dole out some tennis lessons and if possible, some bakery products as well. Even though, the German was able to prevent the latter, barely missing out on a couple of breadsticks, he could do nothing to prevent the Maestro from delivering a masterclass, adorned with out-of the world statistics, including an incredible winners-errors ration of 44-18 and total ace count of 15. In exactly an hour and 30 minutes, the German's misery was put to an end as Federer continued his regal march across the drawsheet. The final score was 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

The first set started off with the legend taken to deuce in his very first service game and the threat of a competitive contest loomed, which would, finally, end the streak of one-sided "under the lights" affairs. However, it seemed as if Federer was in no mood to let that happen as he shrugged off the initial hiccup to break Phau in just the 4th game to get his nose ahead in the contest. Another routine break in the 8th game rounded off the opening set in favor of Federer and the German just appeared unable to match his illustrious opponent's intensity.

On a rare day which saw absolutely no upsets in the women's draw, there was joy in the camp of the Williams family late in the afternoon as Serena hammered her way into the third round, but disappointment in evening when Venus crashed out of the US Open at the hands of the no.6 Angelique Kerber who prevailed in a career defining contest, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

Serena Williams may have woken up on the wrong side of bed, but she still had more than enough in her locker to power past world no.108 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets. Williams spent more than an hour on court, a rarity for the 14-time Champion as early as the second round, with her 24 unforced errors giving her Spanish opponent cause for some joy, especially in the second set.

Andy Murray was the star attraction in the men's draw on Day 3 of the US Open and the newly crowned Olympic Champion did not disappoint his fans, cruising into Round 3 for the loss of just 6 games to Croatian Ivan Dodig. The rest of the day belonged to those unfortunate souls in the men's draw who were made to wait till Wednesday to play their first round matches, crunching up the tournament schedule severely for them. World no.4 David Ferrer and former champion Juan Martin del Potro led the way into the second round for the third quarter representatives, while there were also hard fought wins for Janko Tipsarevic, John Isner and Richard Gasquet.

Murray, looking for his first Grand Slam title, and perhaps finally armed with the self belief that he has what it takes to win the big one, routed Dodig, racing through the first two sets 6-2, 6-1 in just 70 minutes before going into cruise control mode in the third to win it 6-3. Murray powered home 30 winners, and perhaps crucially cut down considerably on his unforced error count compared to the first round, notching up a comfortable win. He will face the winner of the all Spanish battle between Pablo Andujar and Feliciano Lopez in the third round.

Day 3 of the US Open witnessed the curtain fall on one of the most illustrious careers in women's tennis as the Bristish youngster, Laura Robson notched up the biggest win of her career stunning the 3-time former champion in a nerve-wracking straight set affair, 7-6(4) 7-6(5). In a match befitting of a send-off to her great opponent, the thin line of difference between the two players proved to be the teenager's ability to take the opportunities that came her way.

Meanwhile, it was business as usual for the top seed and the Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenka, cruising past her unseeded Belgian Opponent, Kirsten Flipkens in routine straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to book a spot in the third round. The world no.3 and the French Open champion, Maria Sharapova was in an even more devastating mood, steamrolling past her helpless 2nd round opponent, Lourdes Domiguez Lino 6-0 6-1 in just over 50 minutes. The defending champion and the 7th seed, Samantha Stosur was in a similar mood cruising past her opponent, Edina Gallovits-Hall in easy straight sets 6-3 6-0. The 5th seed, Petra Kvitova and the 9th seed, Li Na were given slightly more of a workout by their respective opponents, Alize Cornet and Casey Dellacqua. Nevertheless, they were able to wrap up their respective affairs in straight sets, the scores being 6-4 6-3 and 6-4 6-4 respectively.

The first contest in the Tuesday night session featured the World no.2 and defending champion, Novak Djokovic pitted against the unheralded Italian, Paolo Lorenzi. However, the match failed to live up to its billing of an "under the lights" marquee contest as it was clear, right from the outset, that the Italian did not have anything to offer in the form of resistance to the Serbian. Lorenzi's groundstrokes were neither deep nor fast enough to put Djokovic under any spot of bother and the result was a purely one-sided affair that finished as quickly as it started, clocking in at just 73 minutes. Djokovic dropped just 2 games to complete a domineering win, thereby sending a powerful and foreboding message to his rivals, while also silencing the critics who doubted his ability to make it all the way in the Big Apple in light of his recent losses at the Olympics and Cincinnati.

It was Lorenzi who came out of the blocks gun blazing, breaking his illustrious opponent's serve in the very first game to get his nose ahead in the contest. However, his lead and joy were short-lived as the defending champion reciprocated the favor by breaking back to love in the very next game to get back on level terms. The rest of set got over within a blink of an eye as the Serbian broke his opponent a couple more times using his trademark deep and penetrating ground strokes to keep Lorenzi constantly off balance. Some ill-timed double faults by the Italian did not help his cause either as he surrendered the first set, 6-1 in just 26 minutes.

India's Somdev Devvarman crashed out of the first round of the Men's Singles event at the 2012 US Open, going down in four sets to Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in an error prone 2 hour 41 minute encounter.

Somdev, who has missed the better part of this season due to injuries, returned to action prematurely at the London Olympics, and is yet to regain the form that saw him climb to a career high ranking of 62. Now having dropped into the late 400s, Somdev gained entry into the main draw using the protected ranking system, but was clearly far from his best, going down to Hidalgo rather comfortably in the opening couple of sets.

Two of the three favourites in the men's draw for the 2012 US Open crown, top seed Roger Federer and Olympic Champion Andy Murray, eased their way into the second round with routine wins of Monday. Murray, up first on Center Court needed over 2 hours to subdue Alex Bogomolov Jr. in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. Federer, playing in the marquee contest in the night session had an even easier outing, coasting past American Donald Young, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Andy Murray was made to wait for almost 2 hours to get his US Open campaign underway as a freak thunderstorm lashed New York City on the opening day of the tournament. The Olympic Champion had a poor start to the match and was broken in his very first service game, but his opponent too failed to settle and the pair traded the opening four games of the match breaking each other back and forth. Murray finally found his service rhythm in the fifth game and there was no looking back for the Briton as he rattled off four games on the trot to wrap up the first set 6-2.