Gaudio broke Ferrero's opening serve, then held his own throughout for the set.
But, no doubt to the consternation of the USTA, she dropped her opening serve game against the Italian,and then fell 2-0 behind.
Federer appeared the more tense, and there was a hush when the Swiss dropped his opening serve and Nadal held for a 2-0 first-set lead.
He tries to control the bargaining conversation with a fast opening serve, and then sits back and waits for his opponent to volley back.
But have faith, this opening serves a purpose and the parable is this – heroes, the giants who walk before you in politics, can bequeath both blessings and curses.
The third seed was in deadly form from the opening serve and dispatched of her 16-year-old opponent in less than an hour.
According to legend, his opening serve went into the net so he walked up to his ball and put it in his pocket as a souvenir.
In either arrangement, each curtain opening served the same purpose as a medieval mansion, but, since the openings were not differentiated visually from one another, signs were placed over them, identifying each as the home of a central character.
Nadal so dominated all three sets, from the opening serve to the final forehand winner, that it was easy to forget that Ferrer entered their semifinal as the world's sixth-ranked player.
Murray sees his opening serve sent whistling straight back past his lugs, but he quickly gathers himself to confidently secure the game by pinning Tipsarevic on the baseline and waiting for his opponent to make mistakes.
