Top seeds ease through at US Open

NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray stayed on course for a US Open semi-final showdown in Friday’s second-round action with both recording straight sets victories.

Top-seeded Nadal pounded his way past Denis Istomin ofUzbekistan 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in the featured night session match on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Fourth-seeded Murray saw off Jamaica’s Dustin Brown 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 on the same court earlier in the day.

Nadal next plays France’s Gilles Simon who defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, while Murray takes on Stanislas Wawrinka of Swizerland who ousted Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

There were mixed fortunes for US hopes with teenager Ryan Harrison squandering three match points against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in a fifth set tie-breaker before losing 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)

But twin giants Sam Querrey and John Isner both won through in the same quarter asMurray.

At the start of the day there were nine Spaniards and seven Frenchmen involved in the 16 ties that made up the top half of the draw.

By the end of play, seven of the Spanish had survived (the two losers going down to compatriots) and only two Frenchmen remained.

Nadal – seeking in New York to become just the seventh man to complete the career Grand Slam of Australian, French, Wimbledon and US crowns – was made to dig deep from 1-5 down in the second set tie-break against the 39th-ranked Istomin, taking six points in a row.

He then grabbed the only additional break he needed in the 12th game of the third set to clinch the win.

“He was playing really well, played well last week in New Haven,” Nadal said of Istomin.

“I was a little bit lucky in the tie-break in the second set.

“A few days ago I started to feel the ball well with my serve so that is very good for the confidence.”

Murray had been expected to sweep past the unconventional Brown with little or no effort, and in the end he did so.

But he was left scratching his head at times in the first set by the towering Brown’s unorthodox play focused around a huge, whipping serve and some outrageous drop shots.

On top of that, early play was suspended for around 20 minutes as, courtesy of Hurricane Earl churning up the US eastern seaboard, a rain shower dampened the Flushing Meadows courts.

In the end, the dreadlocked Brown, ranked 123rd in the world, had little left to offer andMurray even went for some extra practice afterwards to complete his day.

“I’d never played him before so the match was very interesting with him hitting big and fun shots,” the Scot said.

“It was very difficult. He is a shot maker and is fun to watch so I am just glad to get through.

The emotional high of the day for home fans came out on the atmospheric Grandstand Court where 18-year-old Harrison, the youngest player left in the tournament, had three match points against Ukraine’s Stakhovsky in the fifth set tie-break.

But a double fault and some brave net play from a tiring Stakhovsky saved the day for the east European.

Harrison said that although he was downcast over the way the match had ended, it gave him hope for the future.

“Obviously I’m not the happiest person in the world right now,” he said.

“But looking back on it, it was a great experience. My ranking is 220 in the world right now, and I’m trying to hopefully get to the top 10.

There was better news for US hopes, however, shortly afterwards on the adjacent Louis Armstrong Court when Wimbledon marathon man Isner won through to the third round with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 win over Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland, setting up a third round clash against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

Querrey then cruised past Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

Tommy Robredo got the Spanish challenge off to strong start when his French opponent, Julian Benneteau, retired in a second set tie-break after injuring his left wrist stretching for a shot. Robredo had won the first set 6-4.

David Ferrer, the 10th seed, then bulldozed his way past Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and Feliciano Lopez saw off the challenge of France’s Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

French hopes suffered another blow when Jeremy Chardy fell to Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7/2) and then Fernando Verdasco ousted Chardy’s compatriot Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

But serve and volley expert Michael Llodra brought some consolation for the French when he defied a painful left foot injury to defeat Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2.

And late in day, Simon came through against Kohlschreiber to set up a third round clash with Nadal.

CLIJSTER, IVANOVIC, VENUS ROLL INTO LAST 16

Defending champion Kim Clijsters advanced to a fourth-round matchup with fellow former world number one Ana Ivanovic at the US Open on Friday while third seed Venus Williams also rolled into the last 16.

Belgian second seed Clijsters struggled briefly before winning the last 12 games to defeatWimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-0 while Ivanovic won the last nine games to oust French wildcard Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0.

US third seed Williams, with injured world number one sister Serena watching from the stands, ripped Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella 6-2, 6-1 in 74 minutes to book a fouth-round matchup against Israel’s Shahar Peer.

French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the sixth seed from Italy, and French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur, the fifth seed from Australia, also advanced with straight-set triumphs.

Stosur beat Italy’s 37th-ranked Sara Errani 6-2, 6-3, while Schiavone ousted Ukraine’s 29th-seeded Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 7-5 and 16th seed Peer eliminated Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-4.

Clijsters ousted the 27th-seeded Czech in 62 minutes for her 17th victory in a row on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts as brisk winds whipped across Arthur Ashe Stadium with Hurricane Earl passing southwest of the area.

“I just had to adjust and get used to the wind. It was tough,” Clijsters said. “I was glad after those first three games I could get my serve going.

“When you don’t have that full confidence on your serve and you have the wind interfering with what your ball does, it’s never that easy. You just have to go back to the basics, really focus and maybe not go for it as much.”

Clijsters, trying to become the first back-to-back US Open women’s champion since Venus Williams in 2001, won her only Grand Slam titles on the New York hardcourts in 2005 and 2009.

But injuries and a two-year hiatus to start a family kept her from the US Open in between her titles, giving her the impressive win streak that looked to be in jeopardy at the start.

Kvitova broke Clijsters twice for a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes, inspring memories of her US Open upset of top seed Dinara Safina last year before the 30-year-old Belgian roared to victory.

“I felt myself progressing throughout the match, so that’s a good feeling,”Clijsters said. “I feel like I’m close. It’s only a matter of a few little details in my game that I want to improve.

“A match like this probably gives me more satisfaction because I beat a good player without even playing my best tennis.”

Williams battled the wind in a night match but breezed through as well.

“It’s pretty windy down here so it’s important to stay focused on every shot,” she said.

Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion who has slid to 40th in the rankings, needed only 66 minutes to advance and equal her top US Open showing from 2007.

“I really feel I’m playing a lot better, sort of things are starting to come back, come together out on the court as well, so I’m really thrilled about that,” Ivanovic said.

“It has been tough. But I’m really happy I managed to stay strong in those times and just push through it, work hard and actually believe I can do it.”

Schiavone made a stunning between-the-legs running from the net shot in the 10th game of the second set on the way to holding at love, broke Bondarenko in the next game and held at love to complete an 88-minute triumph.

“It is nothing programmed. Ii is just instinct. It is art,” Schiavone said.

“Is something that’s coming from inside and you have just to take in a good timing otherwise the ball fly.”

Schiavone will next play Russian 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who oustedArgentina’s Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-2. Stosur next plays Russian 12th seed Elena Dementieva, who downed Slovakian 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-2.

“I’m playing well, I’m hitting the ball well and I think I have got a good chance,” Stosur said.

The 26-year-old from Brisbane won both prior meetings with Errani, including a second-round match last week at New Haven in the last US Open tuneup, where Errani had four match points in a third-set tie-breaker.

“She’s tough. She fights you on every point,” Stosur said. “I didn’t want to go down the same path I did last week.” – AFP