Sharapova goes bold and gets the victory

NEW YORK -- She went a little Roberto Benigni on Tuesday night.

No, Roberta Vinci didn’t win an Academy Award. Or even a first-round match at the U.S. Open.

Just a game.

The 24-year-old Italian watched a Maria Sharapova backhand float wide in the second-to-last game of their match and jumped with joy, whipped her arm around and raised her fist in the air. Shutout, averted.

Sharapova won, 6-0, 6-1, needing 50 minutes in her first match here since winning the Open last year. It was also her first test since pulling out of the semifinals in Carson this month because of a left lower-leg strain.

Using the words test and Vinci in proximity may be generous. The statistics weren’t flattering either. Sharapova had 30 winners to three for Vinci, who said she was suffering from a dental infection and had not been able to practice of late.

Sharapova broke out a new red dress, saying it was inspired by the Big Apple. The seamless dress had a touch of flash -- 600-some Swarovski crystals -- a worthy successor to her Audrey Hepburn-inspired black dress of 2006.

“When you feel good about what you’re wearing and you feel good about putting it on, yeah, you know what it’s like,” she said. “Put on a nice outfit and some makeup and you’re the bomb.”

Hers was among the emphatic victories on a relatively routine second day.

The top American men in action, No. 5 Andy Roddick and No. 6 James Blake, successfully navigated tiebreaks in their opening matches. Roddick needed one and Blake two.

Blake defeated countryman Michael Russell, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (4), and, in the featured night match, Roddick beat countryman Justin Gimelstob, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3. It was Gimelstob’s final singles match at the Open.

Russell is best known for nearly beating Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round at the French Open in 2001, losing after holding a match point. He has viewed the tape but added, “I try not to watch the match point.”

The often-loud group of Blake fans, known as J-Block, did not unnerve Russell the way they did against Blake’s opponents last week in New Haven, Conn.

“I like that, actually,” Russell said. “It’s better to have a lot of people, even if they are rooting against me, than to have nobody there at all.

“I thought they needed to work a little bit on their material, though. In the first set, they were chanting: ‘Too hot to handle, too cool to hold.’ Then, in the third set, they were bringing out the same stuff again.”

The tiebreak was not kind to Sam Querrey of Thousand Oaks and 18-year-old Michael McClune of Irvine, who appeared in his first Open. Left-hander Stefan Koubek of Austria defeated Querrey, 7-6 (1), 6-1, 6-1, and veteran Juan Ignacio Chela beat McClune, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (0).

Querrey, who also lost in the first round at Wimbledon, had four set points in the 12th game and promptly folded, saying: “Just kind of collapsed. Kind of got frustrated, didn’t know what to do. I was out of it a little bit.”

Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina criticized the actions of the British Internet gambling firm Betfair, questioning why it continued to take bets during his second-round match against Nikolay Davydenko on Aug. 2 in Sopot, Poland.

About $7 million was wagered on that contest, and Betfair voided all bets the next day, which sparked an ATP Tour probe. Davydenko has declared his innocence.

Vassallo Arguello had not spoken about the inquiry until after his first-round loss to his countryman Jose Acasuso here Tuesday.

“What is strange in that case is why they took the bets, if they were so big . . . and once they took it, why they don’t pay,” said Vassallo Arguello, who anticipates being interviewed by investigators. “They win millions every time and once they lose a lot, they don’t pay. Normally, if you see that something is strange is going on, you don’t take the bets.

“This is also very strange. The worst thing is they are killing the [No. 4] in the world, Davydenko.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com