The fifth seeded Robin Soderling's narrowly avoided becoming the first big-name casualty of the U.S. Tennis Open, needing five sets to overcome Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer, who's ranked 214 in the world, in the first round.
Soderling, made the quarter finals at Flushing Meadows last year but looked a shadow of the player who eliminated Roger Federer on the way to June's French Open final.
Despite struggling with his serve and hitting 74 unforced errors the Swede insists he's confident of a strong showing at the tournament.
It was Haider-Maurer's first match against a player ranked inside the world's top ten.
