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Murray, Williams sisters roll on in New York

Roar Guru
2nd September, 2016
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Roar Guru
2nd September, 2016
2

World number two Andy Murray and the Williams sisters have strolled into the third round of the US Open with minimal fuss between them.

Poor weather saw the use of the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium during play for the first time since its installation when Rafael Nadal defeated Andreas Seppi in straight sets in the late match on Wednesday night (Thursday morning AEST).

That followed the first major upset in the women’s draw when women’s third seed Garbine Muguruza crashed out following a straight-sets loss to Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. The French Open champion had served for the first set at 5-4.

Again the roof was put to use on Centre Court in the Thursday day session, which saw Simona Halep and Murray win their matches against Lucie Safarova and Marcel Granollers respectively in straight sets.

After them, the Williams sisters took centre stage with Venus Williams defeating Julia Goerges in straight sets before younger sister Serena dealt the same treatment to compatriot Vania King after sunset.

If the pair continue their impressive form over the next week, then they could meet in the semi-finals, which hasn’t happened at any Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2000, which Venus won en route to her first major title.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also made it to the third round after overcoming a slow start to defeat Great Britain’s Naomi Broady in straight sets.

She was joined in the final 32 by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Kristina Mladenovic in a marathon three-setter lasting just over three hours, with the final set alone clocking in at an hour and 34 minutes.

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The 2011 quarter-finalist, who also got this far at the French Open the same year and at Wimbledon this year, next faces in-form Czech Karolina Pliskova, who will be aiming to reach her first Grand Slam fourth round anywhere.

The tenth seed and recent Cincinnati champion took an hour and ten minutes to defeat Paraguay’s Montserrat Gonzalez to match her previous best performance in New York, when she reached the third round in 2014.

She also reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2015 and 2016, losing on both occasions to Ekaterina Makarova.

Two more big names departed, with 2011 champion Sam Stosur going down to doubles partner Zhang Shuai in straight sets, while 2008 finalist Jelena Jankovic was sent packing by Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, also in straight sets.

Stosur’s exit means there are no Australians left in the women’s draw, and also completes an Australian double for Zhang Shuai, who also defeated Ellen Perez in the first round.

On the men’s side of things, Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem progressed, while Janko Tipsarevic, a quarter-finalist in 2011 and 2012, blew a two-set lead to lose to Pablo Carrena Busta in five sets.

The Spaniard next faces Thiem, with either Juan Martin del Potro, Steve Johnson or David Ferrer, who were all in action at the time of publication, to await the winner in the fourth round.

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Australia’s Nick Kyrgios defeated Horacio Zeballos in straight sets on the newly-built Grandstand to reach the third round for the second time in three years. He remains on track to face Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round, which has the potential for fireworks given what happened between the pair in Montreal last year.

In the doubles, Daria Gavrilova and Daria Kasatkina won their first round match against Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets, while the pairing of Henri Kontinen and John Peers were also victorious, defeating the all-Argentinian pair of Federico Delbonis and Guido Pella in three.

Matches to watch on Day 5

Arthur Ashe Stadium
Monica Niculescu (ROU) versus Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
Madison Keys (USA) [8] versus Naomi Osaka (JPN)
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] versus Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
Rafael Nadal (ESP) [4] versus Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS)
CiCi Bellis (USA) versus Angelique Kerber (GER) [2]

Louis Armstrong Stadium
Jack Sock (USA) [26] versus Marin Cilic (CRO) [7]
Petra Kvitova (CZE) [14] versus Elina Svitolina (UKR) [22]
John Isner (USA) [20] versus Kyle Edmund (GBR)

Grandstand
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [9] versus Kevin Anderson (RSA) (23)
Johanna Konta (GBR) [13] versus Belinda Bencic (SUI) [24]
Gael Monfils (FRA) [10] versus Nicolas Almagro (ESP)

Court 5
Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) versus Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) [12]
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/Elena Vesnina (RUS) [5] versus Samantha Stosur (AUS)/Zhang Shuai (CHN)
Fabio Fognini (ITA)/Andreas Seppi (ITA) versus Steve Johnson (USA)/Sam Querrey (USA)

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