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Sports

Published: Saturday September 5, 2009 MYT 8:55:00 AM
Updated: Saturday September 5, 2009 MYT 1:10:58 PM

Williams sisters reach 4th round of US Open(update)

All the men seeded 1-16 reached the third round. It is the first time in the 41-year Open era it has happened.

NEW YORK: Seeking her third grand slam victory of the year, Serena Williams withstood a strong test from Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Friday.

It was an awkward match in Arthur Ashe Stadium for defending champion Williams, full of counterpunches from the game's biggest power hitter.

"I heard a guy in the crowd saying, 'Stop hitting lobs,' so I didn't hit any more lobs after that," Williams said.

"My lob was not working today."

Receiving at 5-all in the first set, Williams chipped back serves, made a few passing shots and found herself at deuce for the eighth time in a game that lasted 12 minutes.

Martinez Sanchez finally wore out, double-faulting twice in a row to give up the break and, essentially, the match.

"You can never underestimate anyone. Some people, some days, they have great days," said the No. 2-seeded Williams, whose sister Venus also won Friday.

"I just go and look at every opponent as the best player in the world."

Perhaps some of her colleagues should take that approach, as well.

This has been a topsy-turvy U.S. Open for the women: No. 8 Victoria Azarenka's 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 26 Francesca Schiavone came a day after No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic were upset.

All told, 11 of the 20 highest-seeded women are gone, and the third round is only halfway done.

"Now there is not a lot of difference between players," Sanchez Martinez said.

"I think anyone can win any match."

No. 3 Venus Williams, the 2000-01 Open champion, avoided adding to the list of stunning results when she got past 46th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-5.

Next up for the elder Williams: A fourth-round match against Kim Clijsters, who recently came out of retirement and is playing in the tournament for the first time since winning it in 2005.

"She was a great champion," Venus Williams said. "She still is."

Other winners included No. 7 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 10 Flavia Pennetta of Italy, No. 18 Li Na of China and No. 26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

No. 1 Dinara Safina made it to Saturday's third round, but barely.

She needed more than 4{ hours to get through two three-set victories.

"Nothing's a given. Everyone comes out, they play well - if you aren't the better player that day, you're going home. That's just how it is," Venus Williams said.

"There is depth on the women's tour, definitely."

The best men have faced no such problems: No. 3 Rafael Nadal's 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday night in the last match of Day 5 means the men seeded 1-16 all reached the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the 41-year Open era.

"There is a gap," said Jurgen Melzer, who lost to No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3.

Friday's other winners included No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 9 Gilles Simon.

None of the top 10 men had even dropped a single set - much less lost - until 2008 runner-up Murray's little slip in his 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over 87th-ranked Paul Capdeville of Chile on Friday afternoon.

Capdeville and Murray know each other from way back, when both trained in Spain.

Capdeville has seen Murray develop from a kid who would lose focus to a major title contender.

"Five years ago, he was a little young," Capdeville said.

"Now he's a man."

Murray now faces Taylor Dent, a wild-card entry from Newport Beach, Calif., who used to be ranked 21st but missed two years after back surgery and now is 195th.

Dent's impressive comeback continued Friday with a stirring 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9) victory over 119th-ranked Ivan Navarro of Spain.

They played for more than 4 hours before Dent finally prevailed.

He grabbed the chair umpire's microphone to thank the raucous, partisan crowd for its support, then took a lap around the Grandstand arena, slapping palms with fans.

Also advancing were No. 16 Marin Cilic of Croatia, from two sets down against American Jesse Levine, No. 17 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

Heading into No. 3 Rafael Nadal's match against Nicolas Kiefer late Friday, the top 16 men were 15-0 in the second round. According to the International Tennis Federation, never in the 41-year Open era have the men seeded 1-16 all advanced to the third round at any Grand Slam tournament.

"There is a gap," said Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who lost to del Potro 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3.

Williams and Martinez Sanchez were meeting for the first time since the French Open third round, when Williams won in three sets.

After that match, Williams said she hit a ball she thought went off her opponent's arm, and accused Martinez Sanchez of cheating by not acknowledging it.

There was no sign of animosity on Friday, however, and Sanchez Martinez said: "We are players, and we see each other every week, and we have to have a good relation."

Williams, who came to her news conference wearing a T-shirt that said "Can't spell dynasty without nasty," lost only seven games in her first two matches.

She doubled that total on Friday in the kind of match that very few have to play on the women's - or men's - circuit these days. Serve-and-volley is out, power groundstrokes are in.

"Every time I play, I say, 'I'm going to be a serve-and-volleyer," Williams said.

"I even used to like Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe. But I couldn't play more opposite than them. I love groundstrokes, I love rallies, I love hitting the ball."

Williams, bidding for her fourth U.S. Open title, next meets 22nd-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who defeated American Vania King 6-2, 6-2. - AP

Earlier report

Clijsters cruises into fourth round of US Open

NEW YORK: Kim Clijsters is back in the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time since she won the title in 2005.

Clijsters cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Belgian compatriot Kirsten Flipkens on Friday and has dropped one set in three matches in her return to Flushing Meadows.

The 26-year-old Clijsters left tennis in 2007, got married and had a child.

But she returned to the tour last month, and will enter the rankings after the tournament.

Clijsters had 13 winners and finished off Flipkens in 62 minutes.

US Open Results

Results Friday from the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses):

Singles

Men

Second Round=

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7), France, def. Jarkko Nieminen, Finland, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

Julien Benneteau, France, def. Viktor Troicki (30), Serbia, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Marin Cilic (16), Croatia, def. Jesse Levine, United States, 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

Juan Carlos Ferrero (24), Spain, def. Philipp Petzschner, Germany, 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Juan Martin del Potro (6), Argentina, def. Jurgen Melzer, Austria, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3.

Tomas Berdych (17), Czech Republic, def. Horacio Zeballos, Argentina, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Gilles Simon (9), France, def. Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Daniel Koellerer, Austria, def. Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Andy Murray (2), Britain, def. Paul Capdeville, Chile, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, def. Nicolas Lapentti, Ecuador, 2-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Nicolas Almagro (32), Spain, def. Robby Ginepri, United States, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Gael Monfils (13), France, def. Andreas Beck, Germany, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

Fernando Gonzalez (11), Chile, def. Josselin Ouanna, France, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

Women

Third Round=

Flavia Pennetta (10), Italy, def. Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada, 6-1, 6-1.

Daniela Hantuchova (22), Slovakia, def. Vania King, United States, 6-2, 6-2.

Serena Williams (2), United States, def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain, 6-3, 7-5.

Francesca Schiavone (26), Italy, def. Victoria Azarenka (8), Belarus, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Vera Zvonareva (7), Russia, def. Elena Vesnina (31), Russia, 6-2, 6-4.

Li Na (18), China, def. Maria Kirilenko, Russia, 6-4, 6-2.

Kim Clijsters, Belgium, def. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium, 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles

Men

First Round=

Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione, Australia, def. Thomaz Bellucci and Marcos Daniel, Brazil, 6-3, 6-4.

Second Round=

Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan, and Dudi Sela, Israel, def. Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo, Spain, walkover.

Max Mirnyi, Belarus, and Andy Ram (5), Israel, def. Dusan Vemic, Serbia, and Mischa Zverev, Germany, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1.

Robert Kendrick, United States, and Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, def. Rik de Voest, South Africa, and Rajeev Ram, United States, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

Martin Damm, Czech Republic, and Robert Lindstedt (11), Sweden, def. Maximo Gonzalez and Juan Monaco, Argentina, 6-2, 6-4.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain, and Olivier Rochus, Belgium, def. Oscar Hernandez and Albert Montanes, Spain, 6-3, 6-3.

Wesley Moodie, South Africa, and Dick Norman (7), Belgium, def. Marc Gicquel and Fabrice Santoro, France, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4).

Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia, and Michael Llodra, France, def. John Isner and Sam Querrey, United States, 3-6, 7-6 (12), 6-2.

Women

Second Round=

Alexa Glatch and Carly Gullickson, United States, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Peng Shuai (7), China, 7-5, 6-3.

Olga Govortsova, Belarus, and Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia, def. Vera Dushevina, Russia, and Anastasia Rodionova, Australia, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (2), Spain, def. Patricia Mayr, Austria, and Stefanie Voegele, Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States, and Nadia Petrova (8), Russia, def. Virginie Razzano, France, and Agnes Szavay, Hungary, 6-1, 6-4.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Patty Schnyder (9), Switzerland, def. Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska, Poland, 6-2, 6-2.

Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova (13), Russia, def. Julie Coin, France, and Marie-Eve Pelletier, Canada, 6-3, 6-4.

Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (6), Spain, def. Camille Pin, France, and Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, 6-4, 6-1.

Cara Black, Zimbabwe, and Liezel Huber (1), United States, def. Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4.

Mixed

First Round=

Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott, United States, def. Nadia Petrova, Russia, and Max Mirnyi (6), Belarus, 6-2, 2-6, 11-9 tiebreak.

Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Kevin Ullyett (5), Zimbabwe, def. Melanie Oudin and Rajeev Ram, United States, 7-6 (6), 7-5.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Mark Knowles (4), Bahamas, def. Angela Haynes and Travis Rettenmaier, United States, 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 tiebreak.

Iveta Benesova and Lukas Dlouhy, Czech Republic, def. Janette Husarova, Slovakia, and Oliver Marach, Austria, 7-6 (3), 7-5. - AP


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