Arnaud Clement upset 16th seed, Marcos Baghdatis in 5 sets, 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5. Clement is a fighter and always is a tough out. In this one, he was down two sets to one and came back to win the last two to advance.

Arnaud Clement advances

Top Seeds Advance

Top seeded Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki both advanced in straight sets to advance to the second round. Nadal took care of a fiesty Teymuraz Gabashvili while Wozniacki defeated Chelsey Gullickson 6-1, 6-1. Wozniacki and Gullickson didnt get onto the court until around midnight due to the length of the Nadal match, but the time factor did not seem to bother the top seed.

Novak Djokovic has moved on after being pushed to 5 sets by Viktor Troiki. Djokovic prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Djokovic has struggled coming into the tournament and was tested today.

American, Mardy Fish wore down Jan Hajek in five sets. After falling down 2 sets to 1, Fish won the last two 6-0, 6-1. While one American advanced, another was sent packing. Robbie Ginepri fell to Eduardo Schwenk of Argentina in 4 sets. Veteran, Tommy Robredo of Spain advanced in 3 sets in the Mens Draw. In other action on the Mens side, 23rd seed Feliciano Lopez advanced as well as Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Philipp Petzschner, and Pablo Cuevas. In a mild upset, 24th seed Ernests Gulbis was downed by Jeremy Chardy of France, in straight sets.

Maria Sharapova took three sets but was able to dispatch Jarmilla Groth of Australia. After dropping the first set, she found the rhythm and easily cruised in the 2nd and 3rd sets to advance. Na Li, the 8th seed has become the highest seed to be defeated thus far. She fell in three sets to Kateryna Bondarenko 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Andrea Petkovic upset 17th seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 to move on.

4th seeded Jelena Jankovic survived a scare against Simona Halep in Ashe Stadium. Jankovic, down 5-4 in the third was able to prevail 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to advance. Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced in three sets as well. The 11th seed defeated Kimiko Krumm 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. 22nd seed, Maria Martinez advanced in straight sets on the Womens side. Unseeded, Patty Schnyder, Mirjana Lucic and American Beatrice Capra have advanced as well as 18th seed female, Aravane Rezai.

Jelena Jankovic advances

In other action, 7th seeded Vera Zvonareva rolled along with 23 seed, Maria Kirilenko.

In the Mens Draw, James Blake looked sharp in a straight set victory against, Kristof Vliegen of Belgium. 10th seeded David Ferrer also advance in straight sets. David Nalbandian advanced in five sets over Rik De Voest of South Africa, in night action.

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And they're off

Last years US Open darling, Melanie Oudin defeated Olga Savchuk 6-3, 6-0 to advance. After a run that took her to the quarters last year, Oudin has found the road more difficult but looked strong on a court she found to be comfortable last year. It will be tough to duplicate last years results but Oudin got off to a good start.

Melanie Oudin looks to make another run at the Open

No Major Surprises

Roger Federer looked good in defeating Brian Dabul in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. Federer, last years runner-up, looks to regain the form that catipulted him to numerous US Open Championships prior to last years loss to Juan Del Potro.

American, Taylor Dent advanced with a straight set victory on Monday. He will face 5th Seed Robin Soderling in the second round. Dent always plays well in New York which sets up what should be an interesting match. Meanwhile, Gael Monfils and Albert Montanes, both seeded, advanced. One upset, 27th seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile was ousted by Ivan Dodig of Croatia. On the womens side, Jie Zheng, Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli all seeded, advanced. Ana Ivanovic, who has fallen to the ranks of the unseeded, looked sharp winning in straight sets in the first round.

Second seeded, Kim Clijsters cruised against Greta Arn of Hungary 6-0, 7-5. Clijsters continues to stride in the second year of her comeback to tennis. Venus Williams made quick work of it defeating Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1.

Andy Roddick took care of Stephane Robert of France, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The US Open has been good to Roddick and even though he is a 9 seed, has to be considered a contender.

Former Majors Champion, Lleyton Hewitt fell to Paul-Henri Mathieu of France. Down two sets, Hewitt rallied to even the match but faltered in the 5th set. Hewitt fell 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 1-6.

Andy Roddick hopes to have a successful run as a 9 seed

4th Seeded, Elena Dementieva moved on in straight sets. Dementieva is a serious contender to win the tournament with Serena Williams missing the tournament.

Other seeded players to advance Monday afternoon were Igor Andreev, Sybille Bammer, Alona Bondarenko and 15th seeded Samantha Stosur defeated 31st seeded, Elena Vesnina in three sets in womens action.

On Louis Armstrong Stadium, Nikolay Davydenko [6], defeated American, Michael Russell 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 while Daniela Hantuchova [24] took care of former number one Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-4.

6th Seeded, Francesca Schiavone of Italy easily defeated Ayumi Morita while 5th seed, Robin Soderling was pushed to 5 sets but prevailed against Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria.

Winners this afternoon on Court 4 were Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets as well as Shahar Peer, on the womens side. Both won in straight sets.

On Court 6, Alisa Kleybanova, the 25th seed defeated Johanna Larsson of Sweden. Other winners were Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the womens draw and Jurgen Melzer on the Mens side.

On Court 7, 11th seed, Marin Cilic won in straight sets and Sania Mirza easily won in the Womens Draw.

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The 2010 United States Open gets underway on Monday. Check here regularly for updates as the tournament progresses. Here are the seeds going into the tournament, no Serena Williams this year (out with injury):

Mens Draw

1. Rafael Nadal (Spain)
2. Roger Federer (Switzerland)
3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
4. Andy Murray (Britain)
5. Robin Soderling (Sweden)
6. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)
7. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
8. Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
9. Andy Roddick (U.S.)
10. David Ferrer (Spain)
11. Marin Cilic (Croatia)
12. Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)
13. Jurgen Melzer (Austria)
14. Nicolas Almagro (Spain)
15. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)
16. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)
17. Gael Monfils (France)
18. John Isner (U.S.)
19. Mardy Fish (U.S.)
20. Sam Querrey (U.S.)
21. Albert Montanes (Spain)
22. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)
23. Feliciano Lopez (Spain)
24. Ernests Gulbis (Latvia)
25. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
26. Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)
27. Fernando Gonzalez (Chile)
28. Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)
29. Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)
30. Juan Monaco (Argentina)
31. David Nalbandian (Argentina)
32. Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)

Rafael Nadal

Womens Draw

1. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark
2. Kim Clijsters, Belgium
3. Venus Williams, United States
4. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia
5. Samantha Stosur, Australia
6. Francesca Schiavone, Italy
7. Vera Zvonareva, Russia
8. Li Na, China
9. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland
10.Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
11.Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia
12.Elena Dementieva, Russia
13.Marion Bartoli, France
14.Maria Sharapova, Russia
15.Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium
16.Shahar Peer, Israel
17.Nadia Petrova, Russia
18.Aravane Rezai, France
19.Flavia Pennetta, Italy
20.Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia
21.Zheng Jie, China
22.Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain
23.Maria Kirilenko, Russia
24.Daniela Hantuchova, Slovak Republic
25.Alexandra Dulgheru, Romania
26.Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic
27.Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic
28.Alisa Kleybanova, Russia
29.Alona Bondarenko, Ukraine
30.Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan
31.Kaia Kanepi, Estonia
32.Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria

Caroline Wozniacki

Kobe Bryant celebrated his 5th NBA Championship by jumping onto the scorers table and flashing
5 fingers to the Lakers faithful, on Thursday. Sound familiar? Last season, he celebrated his 4th
Championship by jumping around the court with fist thrusting. How about this, seen that before?
If you are a basketball fan, have any sense of history or ever watched Michael Jordan play with
the Chicago Bulls then you know the answer to these questions. And much like Kobe emulated
Jordan in celebration, he has attempted to do the same with his style of play. And while imitation
is the most sincere form of flattery, it is seldom as good as the original. This is the case when the discussion turns to who is greater between the two. Jordan is still the King, by far.

No disrespect to Kobe Bryant. He is one of the all time greats, future Hall of Famer and winner.
But comparisons to Jordan's greatness is not only premature, they fall short.

As Jordan's playing career goes further into the distance, it is only natural to question whether
players such as Bryant or Lebron James are greater than his "Airness". After all, many of the fans
of these two werent even born when Jordan hit "The Shot" in the 1982 NCAA National Championship. And it has been over 20 years since his now legendary display in the slam dunk contest and close to twenty years since he made the incredible shot against Magic Johnson and the Lakers enroute to the NBA Championship.

Jordan with his signature tongue wagging

There are obvious reasons as to why Jordan was a better player than Bryant. One glaring fact is
level of competitiion. Both players have put up sensational numbers. However, Bryant has been
a big fish in a shallow pond. The NBA is watered down thanks to expansion, early entrants into
the league and the prospects brought in from elsewhere in the World. The league has become a
place to develop players. It is like investing in a speculative stock. Kids are being drafted on potential, not necessarily skill. Unfortunately, many of these ball players never pan out. Thus, a
weaker league.

Meanwhile, Michael Jordan had his success against the likes of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Akeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins, David Robinson, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Isaiah Thomas, Kevin McHale, James Worthy...and the list goes on. Quite a few Hall of Famers and a top 50 players of all time there. And while Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and Jason Kidd are all fine players and competitors of Bryant, I like my chances with the aforementioned group.

Bryant's game imitates Jordan, right down to the tongue

Jordan came from the last era of "team" basketball in the NBA. Today, the league has marketed individuals and have created a league full of them and it has hurt the chemistry and team aspect
of the game. Jordan played during a time period that included great Celtics and Lakers teams, and the Pistons bad boys, to name a few. The game was played differently and the basic
fundamental skills of the game have eroded as fast as the true Center as the NBA has hyped
dunks and three point shooting. The mid range game has all but evaporated and high-low posts
with every team running their offense through their Centers are a thing of the past.

Ironically, it was the marketing of Michael Jordan, his spectacular dunks and incredible
individual moves that changed the way the NBA marketed it's product. It began promoting
individuals instead of teams. Couple that with his iconic worldwide popularity, with every
kid wanting to grow up to "Be like Mike", the style of play changed in the NBA as
more players chose to focus on individual skills and less on team play.

But Michael Jordan was more than a dunker who had unmatched individual moves
during his time. He was a complete basketball player, a team player. He had the
mid range game, he could run the court and he developed a solid outside shot that
made him virtually impossible to guard one on one. However, it was his defense that may
have set him apart from his contemporaries. He was ferocious on the defensive end which
earned him Defensive Player of the Year in 1987-88 to go with his league MVP award.

With all of the individual accolades that Jordan received, it was his team play that took the
Chicago Bulls to the next level where they rattled off 6 Championships. Jordan raised the play
of his teammates which was key to their success. You can certainly make the case that his
surrounding cast was average at best but dominated the 90's.

Lastly, Michael Jordan had one thing that is often described as "it". That thing you cannot
put your finger on but some players just have it. The unrelentless competitive fire, the will
to win and refusal to lose, the ability to rise when the pressure was on and hit the key shots
even when everyone knows you are going to take it. Kobe has some of these qualities but
Michael Jordan was just one of those rare individuals that may only come around once or
twice during a lifetime. There is no secret that Kobe Bryant idolized Jordan like many of his
age. It is understandable that his game is patterned after Jordan. But to even hint that he is a
better ballplayer than Jordan is just hogwash, fodder for a slow sports season. Only someone
who wasn't around when Jordan was in his prime, or has lost his memory of how great he was,
would think that Kobe Bryant is a greater player than Michael Jordan.

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The Coca-Cola 600, from the Charlotte Motor Speedway will be held today.