NEW YORK – It's do as I say, not as I do when it comes to Marat Safin and his up-and-coming sister Dinara Safina.

Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open men's singles champion, is well known for his hard-hitting and his explosive temper. His boiling point was reached again Tuesday during his 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 first-round win over Vince Spadea.

Serving to stay in the fourth set, Safin was called for a foot fault on the first point of the 4-5 game, and then was pushed to the brink again at deuce. While in his serving motion, Safin was again called for a foot fault – this time because his back foot crossed the center line.

The little-known rule gave Spadea the game advantage and put him in position to clinch the fourth set on the next point.

“It's stupid rules that somebody made in, I don't know, 1850, and now they give me problems with these things,” the still-perturbed Safin said. “It shouldn't be that way.”

Safin grumbled at the linesman on the far end of the court and voiced his displeasure to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes. Speaking to him in Spanish, and in the universal language of frustration, Safin punctuated his remarks with expletives in English that were clearly heard.

He even sat on his chair mid-game in exasperation. After the set was lost, he went off court with tournament referee Brian Earley and took up the argument with him, to no avail.

Safin said, except for earlier this season in Cincinnati, he never had anyone call a foot fault against him on a second serve. He pleaded to be given a warning the first time he committed the fault before it would cost him a serve.

“I've already been on tour 10 years, and I want to enjoy my tennis,” he said. “I don't want to fight anybody. I don't want to face any problems on the court. It's not like I'm starving to death and I need to do something original to earn money. I want to enjoy. It's so simple.

“I just want to have a nice match, win or lose, and whatever happens go home. That's it. I don't want to face the foot faults and all these things.”

Earlier Tuesday, Safina – the No. 6 seed – moved into the second round by beating New Jersey's Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4.

She is learning a lot from her big brother, especially how to act on court. Well, sort of. In the past, meltdowns have caused Safin to lose focus and, in turn, matches.

“I would behave like a baby and crying and all this. He hated it,” the 22-year-old Safina said. “He was always, 'Come on! You have to grow up in your mind. You cannot behave like this. ... That's why he's like learn from my experience. Don't do this.”

Safina, a finalist this year at the French Open and the Beijing Olympics, is one of six women who could be ranked No. 1 on the women's tour by the end of this tournament.

“I think if she will do everything opposite of what I've been doing throughout the years, she will be Number One in the world for a long time,” Safin said. “That's as simple as it is.

“Two tough finals ... and I think the third one is here. She should take her chance. ... I think she is ready to win the first Grand Slam. I'm really proud of the way she's handling the pressure and the way she's handling herself.”

AGING AMERICANS: Tennis veterans Vince Spadea and Jill Craybas, the second-oldest players respectively in the men's and women's draws, were both eliminated Tuesday on Day 2 of the U.S. Open.

The 34-year-old Spadea stretched Marat Safin to five sets before exiting his 16th U.S. Open. Craybas, also 34, was knocked out for the 12th time at Flushing Meadows – falling 6-3, 7-6 (4) to No. 18 seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Spadea, born in Chicago, has never gotten past the fourth round in all his trips to New York.

“That's disappointing,” he said. “I just don't play well here. I just don't play aggressive enough. .. Just in general, I either just don't rise to the occasion or maybe the pressure gets to me.

“Today I was more offensive than I usually am, so I think that's why I displayed some positive play. I don't know. I'm not in the Final 8 club. I have to try mixed doubles or something.”

JET-SETTER: There might be some benefit for all the travel women's world No. 1 player Ana Ivanovic has been making lately – tons and tons of frequent flyer miles.

“Yeah, I think I can have the whole next year free,” she said after struggling to a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Vera Dushevina on Tuesday.

A sore right thumb forced the Serbian to drop out of the Olympics and forced her to enter the U.S. Open without any time on the practice court. She feels better now, but the lack of activity is likely to catch up with her and limit her chances of adding the U.S. Open to her French Open victory from earlier this year.

“I'm a very big competitor, so obviously I want myself to win,” she said. “At the moment, that's a lot to ask for. I just want to take it match by match. I have good potential to slowly get into a tournament and play fresh.”

Ivanovic went to Beijing before pulling out and then flew to Australia to see her doctor before heading to New York.

LATE NIGHTS: For the second straight year, James Blake played long and late into the night at Flushing Meadows.

Already well into Monday evening following a lengthy ceremony celebrating 40 years of the Open era, Blake and 19-year-old Donald Young took to Arthur Ashe Stadium and staged a five-set match that didn't end until 12:35 a.m. Tuesday.

Blake, who seemed in control after grabbing a 2-1 lead in sets, let Young back into the match before finishing him off 6-4 in the fifth. It marked the 19th time since Ashe Stadium opened in 1997 that the final match of a night session went the distance.

Blake has been a part of the two most recent and won them both. He took out Fabrice Santoro a year ago in the second round, also shaking off a fourth set loss to win 6-4.

The 28-year-old American, who reached the medal round of the Olympics before coming home empty-handed, never felt as though he was in danger of being eliminated.

“I try not to let those kind of doubts get into it,” Blake said. “You think more about the fact that anything can happen, not that it's not your night or you're thinking about losing. You're thinking, now is the time where you need to play your game and what's most comfortable with you. Because if the other guy is feeling that good and playing his game, he can take it to you and anything can happen in one set.”