Dinara Safina in action on Monday. She won her first-round match in straight sets

New York: Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko posted a quick and early victory on Monday at the US Open, and Jelena Jankovic struggled through some second-set trouble before prevailing on the opening day of the final Grand Slam of the season.

Davydenko, a semifinalist last year, eliminated American teenager Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-0, 6-1, needing only one hour and 40 minutes to beat one of 10 men making their first appearance in the US Open on Monday.

After a tight first set, Levine became more erratic and Davydenko took advantage to cruise through the second in just 20 minutes.

The Russian maintained his momentum in the third set to clinch an impressive victory.

Jankovic began the day on the main Arthur Ashe Stadium show court and, after taking a 6-2, 5-1 lead, lost four straight before finally subduing Jamila Gajdosova of Slovenia 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Gajdosova survived double-match point at 5-4 to break Jankovic for a second time. She held and forced the tie-breaker, but the Serbian closed out the victory.

No. 28 Ai Sugiyama was the first to advance to the second round, dispatching Andreja Klepac of Slovenia 6-3, 6-1. The Japanese player converted four-of-six break points and took only 1:07 to complete the win.

In other early play, No. 15 Dinara Safina beat Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-2, 6-3 and No. 27 Vera Zvonareva defeated Alina Jikdova 6-0, 6-7 (5) 6-0.

Juan Carlos Ferrero became the first seeded casualty at the US Open after he was beaten 3-6, 4-6, 4-6 by fellow-Spaniard Feliciano Lopez on Monday. The 21st seed, runner-up here in 2003, was outplayed throughout by Lopez, who will now play Russian Igor Andreev.

"I served so badly today," Ferrero said. "The balls here don't help me because I like to hit with a lot of spin but when you hit the ball it's like they are dead. If you can serve big and hit the ball flat, it's better."

The only time Ferrero looked like making a fight of it was when he recovered an early break in the third set but world number 60 Lopez broke again to seal victory.

"It's just another tournament," a despondent Ferrero said. "I know it's a Grand Slam, but I lost in the second round here last year. The world is still turning." (Agencies)