ESPN 2008 US Open

NEW YORK -- Roger Federer, aiming for his fifth straight U.S. Open title, eliminated Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 on Tuesday. Gonzalez hung with the former world No. 1 player for a while before Federer won 10 straight games, a run spanning all three sets.

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Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesLeading two sets to one but trailing 4-5 and 40-40 in the fourth, Marat Safin footfaulted and subsequently lost the set.

Federer eased into the second round as an unfamiliar second seed. After 237 straight weeks at the top of the rankings, Federer is now behind Rafael Nadal for the first time in 4½ years. Not since the 2004 Australian Open had Federer been seeded anything other than No. 1 at a major.

"I'm motivated to do very well here and for the rest of the season," Federer said.

Former champion Marat Safin laid into the "stupid rules" of tennis after a controversial foot fault call almost derailed his progress into the second round.

Leading American Vince Spadea two sets to one but trailing 4-5 and 40-40 in the fourth, Safin footfaulted on his second serve by apparently having his back foot partly across the center line at the beginning of his serving motion.

The resultant double fault gave Spadea set point, which he clinched, but Safin bounced back well to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Winner of the 2000 U.S. Open, the Russian was in his customary belligerent mood when he greeted the media after the match.

"It's stupid rules that somebody made in, I don't know, 1850," Safin said. "Now they give me the problems with these things and it shouldn't be that way."

The official rules state that a serve is a fault if a player, at any time in his service motion, touches or goes outside the imaginary extension of the center mark with either foot.

Safin said it was ridiculous for a foot fault to be called from the other end of the court.

"How can the guy see with sunglasses from 35 meters away on a foot fault? It doesn't make any sense," the 28-year-old said. "Why do you want to do that? What for?

U.S. Open Fast Facts

On this date: In his U.S. Open debut on Aug. 26, 1986, 16-year-old Andre Agassi lost to Jeremy Bates in four sets.

Stat of the day: Tommy Haas committed only one unforced error in the fifth set of his victory over No. 12 Richard Gasquet. It came on his first of two match points.

-- The Associated Press

"It's not so complicated. The chair umpire, when they go with the linesman, first when I start to make the foot fault, they should tell me: 'Listen, you're making a foot fault. Be careful. Next time I'm calling it.' And if you're making it on [the center line], what difference does it make? Doesn't help me to serve better," he said.

Safin, who next meets 15th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-1 winner over Mischa Zverev, said the rules should be changed.

"I think the people in tennis are missing some rules," the Russian added. "It's really, really disappointing in the fourth set because [after] a foot fault on the second serve, you're facing set point.

"I think I have the point here and the people should do something about it," he said. "If you ask anybody in the locker room, they will tell you the same thing. It's wrong. The officials, they should change something, because they don't understand it.

"I'm 28," the two-time Grand Slam champion added. "I've been already on tour for 10 years, and I want to enjoy my tennis. I don't want to fight anybody. I don't want any problems on the court. I just want to enjoy it. It's not like I'm playing because I'm starving to death and I need to do something original to earn money.

"I just want to have a nice match, win or lose, and whatever happens to go home. I wish I could play normal tennis and enjoy my matches sometimes," he said.

Other seeded players to advance were No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who beat Ivan Navarro of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5); No. 13 Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who defeated Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; No. 14 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, who beat Jan Minar of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1, 6-4; 23rd-seeded Russian Igor Andreev, who beat Marc Gicquel of France 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-4; No. 24 Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, who rallied past compatriot Sebastien Grosjean 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2; and No. 31 Andreas Seppi of Italy, who struggled to beat Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3.

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Tommy Haas of Germany scored an early upset, rallying past 12th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France 6-7 (3), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. Unseeded American Sam Querrey also made some early noise, ousting No. 22 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-1, 6-2. Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic handed 20th-seeded German Nicolas Kiefer a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 4-1 loss.

In other action, American Mardy Fish held off Australia's Robert Smeets 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4; American Bobby Reynolds rallied past Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-7 (3), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4); Jarkko Nieminen of Finland rolled past unseeded American Scoville Jenkins 6-3, 6-3, 7-5; Gilles Muller of Luxembourg beat France's Laurent Recouderc 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4; Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia; Flavio Cipolla of Italy struggled to a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (4) win over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic; Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun rallied past Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jeremy Chardy of France beat Portugal's Frederico Gil 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; France's Nicolas Devilder cruised past Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; Florent Serra of France was leading 7-6 (8), 6-0, 2-0 when Rainer Schuettler of Germany retired; Brazilian Thiago Alves rallied past Paul Capdeville of Chile 4-6, 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (2), 6-4; and Portugal's Rui Machado beat Rik De Voest of South Africa 6-4, 7-6 (7), 6-1.

Rafael Nadal was out early Tuesday, practicing minus his shirt. A day after his win, the top-seeded man worked in solitude -- he hit before the crowds were allowed on the grounds.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.