The Roar
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Djokovic walks into third round, as Kvitova and Wozniacki progress

Roar Guru
31st August, 2016
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Caroline Wozniacki.(Tatiana / Flickr)
Roar Guru
31st August, 2016
1

World number one Novak Djokovic has progressed to the third round of the US Open without serving a ball in anger, with his opponent Jiri Vesely pulling out before they were due to meet in the second round on Thursday morning (AEST).

Vesely, who won his only previous meeting against the Serb at the Monte Carlo Masters in April, was forced to withdraw due to a left forearm injury.

It meant that the match between Gael Monfils and Jan Satral, which was originally scheduled for Court 17, was moved to Arthur Ashe Stadium, following earlier matches involving Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki.

Kvitova opened proceedings on Centre Court for the day, and after being tested early in her match against Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay, who in April won her hometown tournament in Istanbul, proceeded in straight sets.

The Czech next faces Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian defeated Lauren Davis in three sets. It will be their first meeting since the Rio Olympics, where Kvitova defeated Svitolina after the latter had upset Serena Williams in the third round.

Following Kvitova on Centre Court was a clash between former world number one and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The pair were two-all in head-to-head at Grand Slams, with both of Wozniacki’s victories coming at Flushing Meadows, including in 2009 when she reached the final as a 19-year-old, losing to comeback queen Kim Clijsters.

Kuznetsova, however, claimed their most recent meeting, at Wimbledon in June.

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The Russian, who this year became her country’s top-ranked player in the wake of Maria Sharapova’s two-year suspension, led 4-0 in the opening set before the unseeded Dane struck back to claim six games in a row and the set.

The 26-year-old won the second set by the same scoreline to notch her first top-ten victory for the year, and also protect her undefeated record against Kuznetsova in New York, having also beaten the Russian in the fourth round in 2011.

Monfils then took advantage of his promotion to Arthur Ashe Stadium in the wake of Djokovic’s walkover to defeat Czech qualifier Jan Satral in straight sets, setting up a third round meeting with Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

His countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had it tougher, requiring four sets to defeat Australia’s James Duckworth. His next assignment is last year’s quarter-finalist, 23rd seed Kevin Anderson.

2014 champion Marin Cilic progressed by thrashing Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets, but Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic became the highest-seeded casualty so far, upset in four sets by Canadian qualifier Ryan Harrison.

There were no major upsets in the women’s draw; apart from Kvitova and Wozniacki, second seed Angelique Kerber and last year’s finalist Roberta Vinci both progressed, as did 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 13th seed Johanna Konta, and 2014 quarter-finalist Belinda Bencic.

At the time of publication, Rafael Nadal, Garbine Muguruza and Madison Keys were still to play their second-round matches, against Andreas Seppi, Anastasija Sevatsova and Kayla Day respectively.

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Matches to watch on Day 4
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Lucie Safarova (CZE) versus Simona Halep (ROU) [5]
Marcel Granollers (ESP) versus Andy Murray (GBR) [2]
Julia Goerges (GER) versus Venus Williams (USA) [6]
Serena Williams (USA) [1] versus Vania King (USA)
Steve Johnson (USA) [19] versus Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)

Louis Armstrong Stadium
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [4] versus Naomi Broady (GBR)
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP [11] versus Jelena Jankovic (SRB)

Grandstand
Dominic Thiem (AUT) [8] versus Ricardis Berankis (LTU)
Zhang Shuai (CHN) versus Samantha Stosur (AUS) [16]
Nick Kyrgios (AUS) [14] versus Horacio Zeballos (ARG)

Court 17
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) versus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) [17]
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [21] versus Donald Young (USA)
Fabio Fognini (ITA) versus David Ferrer (ESP) [11]

P6/Old Grandstand
Jeremy Chardy (FRA) versus Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [22]

Court 4
Caroline Garcia (FRA)/Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) [1] versus Kurumi Nara (JPN)/Naomi Osaka (JPN)

Court 6
Daria Gavrilova (AUS)/Daria Kasatkina (RUS) versus Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)

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