1954: As Dinara Safina flops an 11th double fault into the net, John Lloyd decides to brings up the subject of Anna Kournikova. Bit harsh. Rogowska breaks again and she leads 4-2. This ain't over. No no no.

1950: Ah. Olivia Rogowska double-faults to hand the break to Dinara Safina. As the young Aussie trudges to the chair, the Arthur Ashe DJ plonks on Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. That's bound to cheer her up. Although she's probably never heard of Van Morrison.

1947: Strewth. Rogowska has a point for a 4-0 lead - but Safina comes up with a brave crosscourt winner off the backhand, and it's now 3-1.

1940: I wonder if Rafa went into the barbers with a picture of Fed and said 'One of those, por favor'. Dinara Safina squanders FOUR break points in that game and Olivia Rogowska now leads 3-0.

Text in your views on 81111
From tenniscrazy09 via text on 81111: "Re 1926: Is it just me or is Rafa's cut really similar to Fed's?"
Is is me, or are you lot more interested in Rafa's haircut than the potential demise of the women's world number one?

1931: Wailing - but as yet no weeping on Arthur Ashe - as Dinara Safina throws in another couple of tame double faults. Olivia Rogowska has a break point for a 2-0 lead. The Aussie strokes a backhand down the line, which is called out, but HawkEye comes to her rescue. It caught the sideline.

Rafael Nadal
Rafa's new haircut
1926: Those of you eagerly awaiting pictorial evidence of Rafa's new do (see 1841) - and yes, I do mean you, fedjon13 on 606 - here it is. Could this ease the pressure on those dodgy knees?

1918: A roar of delight/anger/relief/frustration from Dinara Safina, who does indeed force the deciding third set against Olivia Rogowska. You've got to favour the world number one now. Over on Grandstand, Marin Cilic is just starting his opening match against Ryan Sweeting. The Croat is a potential fourth-round opponent for world number two Andy Murray.

1912: Guessing the magic of Fernando Verdasco is yet to reach New York. The Spaniard, seeded 10th, is busy belting balls out on Court 13. He leads Benjamin 'No relation' Becker 7-5 4-4. Things looking a lot brighter for Dinara Safina, all of a sudden 5-2 up against Olivia Rogowska as she looks to take it into a decider.

1901: Another double fault from Dinara Safina, and we're back on serve. We could be here for some time, folks. Elsewhere, veteran Finn Jarkko Nieminen is through to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Patty Schnyder, the 19th seed, comes back from a set down to beat Lucia Safarova.

1855: Pictures of Rafa's new hair as soon as they are available, I promise. In fact, my colleague Chris Bevan is already planning a photo gallery. Dinara Safina breaks to lead 2-1 in the second set. She still doesn't look entirely happy with life though.

1852: BBC Sport's Piers Newbery has just tweeted. No surprise that he's awoken after his night shift. Gisela Dulko is in action over on Court 10, the Argentine leading Ekaterina Makerova by a set but struggling in the second. Dulko beat Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, you'll remember.

Text in your views on 81111
From anon via text on 81111: "Re 1841: No, not the hair Rafa. Excuse me I have got to go and mourn."

1846: If I had a 'goodness me, we could have a shock on our hands here' graphic, I would definitely be dusting it off. World number 167 Olivia Rogowska takes the first set against world number one Dinara Safina on a tie-break, after the Russian double-faults.

Twitter
5livetennis on Twitter: "Rafa's arrived for practice. Mobbed by fans and while we're on the subject of hair, his is shorter than ever."

1841: BREAKING NEWS Rafa Nadal is reported to have had a haircut. And Olivia Rogowska leads the tie-break against top seed Dinara Safina 5-4.

1831: Another epic game on Arthur Ashe. Dinara Safina has a third set point at 6-5 - but frames an awful backhand return about six foot over the baseline. She then gets a fourth, but Olivia Rogowska rifles a forehand onto the baseline. Tie-break time!


1826: Bad news, I'm afraid, Grainne (see below). The V-Dawg crashed out in the first round of qualifying. "Big apple bottoms," was his rather curious verdict via his Twitter feed. Still, let's remember the better times, shall we?

Text in your views on 81111
From Grainne, Aberdeen, via text on 81111: "We all know when Murray is scheduled to play, what I want to know is when Vinny Spadea begins his campaign!"

1816: Long delay there for an epic game. Dinara Safina takes what seems like a decisive 5-3 lead in the first set, but Olivia Rogowska is Aussie by nationality and Aussie by nature. She breaks back to trail 5-4, but she'll still have to serve to stay in it.

1805: Aah, the familiar sound of a Safin family member screaming something, almost certainly uncomplimentary, in Russian. Still, it seems to give her the required kick up the backside, and she leads 4-3 against the 18-year-old Aussie.

1757: Now while I was copying and pasting from the ATP website, it seems Olivia Rogowska was taking advantage of a very slow start by top seed Dinara Safina, who double-faults to be broken for the second time. Rogowska leads 3-2.

A shock result
1746: Jesse Witten, 26, had never won an ATP Tour level match... until today. The American qualifier, who is 5ft 10ins tall and weighs 82kg, beats 29th seed Igor Andreev 6-4 6-0 6-2. His nickname is Hoss or J-Dub.

Text in your views on 81111
From anon via text on 81111: "Re 1725: The best thing he's done this year is qualify in Washington? Highest ever ranking was 171st three years ago? Hope he wins, I love an underdog, although the way he's playing it's not exactly fair to call him one!"

1735: World number one and top seed Dinara Safina warming up on Arthur Ashe Stadium against Olivia Rogowska of Australia. Will Safina do her usual and wallop everyone in sight until crumbling at the sight of a half-decent player? Or can she finally win that elusive major? She's got Jelena Jankovic in the quarters, then Kuznetsova or Dementieva in the semis...

The match is over
1729: Results coming thick and fast now. Ninth seed and everyone's favourite Dane Caroline Wozniacki cruises past Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva 6-4 6-0. Wozzy is a potential fourth-round opponent for Svetlana Kuznetsova.

1725: And sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova wallops Julia Goerges 6-3 6-2. Really struggling with Jesse Witten info. Seems like he's a bit of a man of mystery. He wears an earring. I know that.

The match is over
1720: Just an hour and 18 minutes later, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga waltzes into the second round with a 6-0 6-2 6-1 win over poor old Chase Buchanan. I will now turn my attentions to facts about Jesse Witten, and I've already done him a disservice. He's not a wildcard, he's a qualifier. And he's teaching 29th seed Igor Andreev a tennis lesson on Court Seven.

From lemish32 on Twitter: "Can I have a mention because I was eating a bagel when you put the bagel sign up?"
Yes. Yes you can.

Twitter
5livetennis on Twitter: "Word from the locker room is that Tsonga is leaner than ever. He also appears to be cultivating a Marouane Fellaini hair-do."

Results
1711: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has got a decent draw this year. Fernando Gonzalez in the fourth round should be one for the purists, then possibly Rafa in the quarters. He's going to need better match practice than he's getting today though. Canada's Stephanie Dubois wraps up a 6-0 6-4 win over French debutant Kristina Mladenovic and is joined in round two by Peng Shuai.

1706: Chase Buchanan will win US$19,000 for losing in the first round here, more than he has earned in his entire career so far. And he will lose. Jo-Willy Tsonga leads 6-0 6-2 2-0.

Get involved on 606
From mengo09 on 606: "Re 1632: I went to school with someone called Trent Taylor, I think that's verrrrrry Ameican."

Text in your views on 81111
From Rob, north London, via text on 81111: "Re 1632: I went to school with a guy called Kit Hogan. Think that trumps your Chase Buchanan."

1653: Elsewhere, Svetlana Kuznetsova is well on her way to round two, leading 6-3 against Julia Goerges. Patty Schynder - who is somehow seeded 19th - is down a set against Lucie Safarova. And some good news for the US as wildcard Jesse Witten leads Igor Andreev by a set and a break.

1648: Chase Buchanan was once given a medallion by his coach with the inscription: "Who do I want to be in this exact moment? In this moment lies my attitude". I imagine that in this exact moment, he wants to be Roger Federer. He trails 6-0 4-2. It's not pretty.

A bagel
A bagel
1638: Hungry yet? How about a couple of bagels? The first goes to Stephanie Dubois against French youngster Kristina Mladenovic. The second is for Italy's Sara Errani, who is thrashing Arantxa Rus.

1634: Hang on... Tsonga double-faults and Buchanan leads by a break at 2-1 in the second set. Awesome!

USA
1632: Massive cheer on Grandstand as Chase Buchanan wins a game. Way to go! Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was looking the other way at the time. Is there a more American name than Chase Buchanan?

1628: Better news for underdog fans from Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Julia Goerges has broken back to trail Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-1. On Louis Armstrong, ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki is on serve against Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva.

1623: Chase Buchanan was named Most Inspirational Warrior when he attended a Marine boot camp along with some other promising American players. He has just lost the first set 6-0 after 23 minutes against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

USA
1620: Desperately trying to find some information about Chase Buchanan before he loses... He was the US junior champion last year, which meant he was an automatic wildcard pick (that's some American for you). He's 18. He says his favourite shot is a backhand down the line. He's 5-0 down against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

1612: If you wish to see your name up in lights - or indeed on this live text - you'd better drop me a text on 81111, get involved on 606, or on Twitter.

1607: Former champ Svetlana Kuznetsova has the honour of opening play on Arthur Ashe Stadium today. She's up against Germany's Julia Goerges. Over on Grandstand, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be entertaining the crowd against a fella called Chase Buchanan. He's American, I don't need to tell you.


1600: Hello there. In about nine hours, Andy Murray will kick off his 2009 US Open campaign. You're not going anywhere 'til then though, right?