NEW YORK (AP) Play enough tennis and it's bound to happen. The double-bagel loss.
Chang Kai-chen advanced in the U.S. Open and wound up with a difficult matchup in the second round - top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, the woman Chang calls ``a wall.''
Indeed, everything came back during 47 ugly minutes in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Chang found herself on the wrong end of the worst kind of defeat - 6-0, 6-0.
I'm pretty disappointed, but not embarrassed,'' Chang said.I know it's in front of a lot of people and on TV and stuff. But things happen.''
Wozniacki, a finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, won 52 points to 24 for Chang, but the most telling numbers were these: Wozniacki won despite only hitting seven winners. She also made only 12 unforced errors.
She just doesn't give up many points or make many mistakes,'' Chang said.She's a wall.''
Lest she feel too bad, she should know that Wozniacki has lost a grand total of two games in her first two matches.
I've been playing really great tennis,'' Wozniacki said.I'm feeling good, so no worries.''
Chang figured she shouldn't worry about it too much, either. Best to simply put it behind her. Her mother came over from Taiwan to share in the U.S. Open experience.
She saw a pretty ugly match,'' Chang said,but I'm happy she's here with me.''
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WHAT HAPPENED?: Richard Gasquet's convincing win over No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko left some people wondering if the winner was really that good, or the loser was really that bad.
Davydenko knew where he stood.
``I didn't play so good, so I can't even tell you how he played,'' the Russian said after a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 loss that was stunning mostly because of its thoroughness.
Gasquet appears to be rounding back into the form he was at in 2007, when he reached the world's top 10. Last year, though, he gained notoriety when he was suspended for 2 1/2 months after testing positive for cocaine - a penalty he successfully appealed when he said the drug inadvertently entered his system when he kissed a woman at a nightclub.
He slid out of the top 50, but this year has returned to No. 38, in part thanks to a tournament win in Nice for his first title since 2007.
Some statistics might help solve the mystery: Gasquet hit 30 winners against 21 unforced errors while Davydenko had 23 winners and 32 unforced errors.
``All he had to do was hit the ball back to me a few times and I make a mistake and he wins the point,'' Davydenko said.
The Russian complained about his rackets, his strings, the weather. He missed 11 weeks earlier this year after breaking his left wrist, but said his problems went deeper than that.
``I don't know if it's the problem is with my wrist, or the problem is with my head,'' he said.
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FIVE IN FIVE: The third straight day of extreme heat had the biggest impact on Kei Nishikori and No. 11 Marin Cilic, who needed one minute short of five hours to grind through their five-set match - a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 win for Nishikori.
With temperatures in the mid-90s, both players started cramping about two or three hours into the match. Both called for trainers, took breaks whenever they could. Both were walking gingerly when the match was over.
I was thinking about it in the fourth set, mostly,'' Nishikori said.Even if I win this, I have to play one more set. It's not going to be easy for me, with the cramping. But I was able to fight through, yeah.''
Cilic took a break down 4-1 in the final set to have a trainer work on his back. It was more for some rest time than anything. By then, he said his legs were cramping and he couldn't move much, though the thought of quitting never crossed his mind.
The good part is he won't have to go back out there. The bad part is he worked that hard and lost.
It's not easy to accept that you stayed on court for five hours, had chances and then you're done,'' said Cilic, a quarterfinalist at last year's Open.It was physically very tough. The conditions were really tough. It was hot and it was very humid and it wasn't easy to get the oxygen.''