Venus Williams was within three points of a first-round defeat and Dinara Safina trailed 3-0 and 4-2 in the final set to an Australian on her grand-slam tournament debut, but both clung on to survive.

Too often in the recent past, scorecards at the US Open Championships have been littered with 6-0 and 6-1 sets in the women’s event, leading to the assertion that they were claiming equal prize money under false pretences. Bucking the trend, it is the victories for Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Nos 1, 5 and 7 seeds, in the opening round of the men’s tournament that have been akin to a jog around Central Park.

Safina was wretched yesterday, but the importance of the occasion dawned on Olivia Rogowska, 18, a country girl from Victoria whose inability to see off the No 1 had more to do with errors on her part than any substantive quality from the Russian.

At times one wondered who was the No 1 and who the No 167. The errors stacked like the rubbish on New York street corners, but Rogowska blew her last chance when she double-faulted when holding game point to lead 5-4 in the final set and Safina prevailed 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Williams, the No 3 seed, almost lost in straight sets before recovering to beat Vera Dushevina, of Russia, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Melanie Oudin, the 17-year-old from the southern state of Georgia, who reached the second week of this year’s Wimbledon, was in inspired form yesterday, defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, of Russia, 6-1, 6-2.