Eyes were on Kim Clijsters, Andy Murray and the weather radar as play began under gray skies. The forecast from the tournament’s meteorologist called for intermittent showers. Officials planned to try to get in the full schedule of matches.
The main concern went from heat to rain in a matter of hours. Defending champion Clijsters, the second-seeded woman, and the fourth-seeded Murray were to play at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday afternoon. Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal were to play the night matches.
Stosur, the French Open runner-up, extended her longest run at the Open, beating Errani 6-2, 6-3 in the third round.
The fifth-seeded Australian had never gotten past the second round at Flushing Meadows in six previous tries. But the 26-year-old is in the midst of a career year and has reached the quarterfinals or better in nine of her last 10 events.
Stosur beat the 37th-ranked Errani for the second time in just more than a week. She needed a third-set tiebreaker to defeat the Italian in New Haven, Connecticut
Stosur nearly lost in the first round at the US Open, dropping the opening set then going to a tiebreaker in the second. But she has cruised since and had seven aces and 37 winners Friday.
The 12th-seeded Dementieva beat the 24th-seeded Hantuchova 7-5, 6-2. Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, has reached the semifinals three times but lost in the second round last year. The Russian missed Wimbledon with a left calf injury and has fallen out of the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in more than three years.
Hantuchova has not beaten Dementieva since 2005, not including retirements. The Slovakian reached the fourth round at the US Open last year.
Dementieva converted all six break points Friday. Hantuchova was just 3 of 9.
Each of the five featured matches on center court Thursday were decided in straight-sets. At times the quality of tennis was breathtaking and the crowds roared their approval, but it was rarely a fair contest.
Roger Federer’s victim was Germany’s Andreas Beck. He won the match 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in one hour 41 minutes and even the Swiss master himself was impressed.
“It’s the perfect start,” he said. “I played Monday, had two days off. I had another easy one physically today, and here I am in the third round feeling like I’m completely in the tournament.”
Maria Sharapova was also in a hurry, beating Czech Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2, but neither of the former champions could match the ruthless display from Caroline Wozniacki.
The Dane needed just 47 minutes to inflict the dreaded 6-0, 6-0 “double bagel” on Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen and remain on course for a meeting with Russian Sharapova in the fourth round.
Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, Wimbledon finalist this year, and Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, semifinalist at the US Open last season, also registered easy wins on another steamy day when the Extreme Weather Policy was invoked as temperatures climbed past 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius).
A year ago, Kim Clijsters was the mom hogging the spotlight at the US Open. This time it is Mother Nature.
Unrelenting heat and swirling winds have transformed the last grand slam of the year into a battle against the elements and now Hurricane Earl is approaching New York, threatening to dump gallons of rain on the city that never sleeps.
Petzschner landed a few blows on Novak Djokovic but the world No. 3 was way too crafty for the German, winning 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 to meet James Blake in the next round.
Djokovic’s fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, the women’s fourth seed, survived after being pushed to three sets by Mirjana Lucic.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko, however, was left punch-drunk after being hammered 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
“I don’t know if I need to have a coach, a mental coach or if I need to go somewhere to change my brain,” the sixth seed said.
The casualty rate among the seeds in the first four days of the championship has been almost as brutal as the baking heat with 22 making early exits, including six more Thursday.
Agnieszka Radwanska, Aravane Rezai and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez were sent tumbling out of the women’s draw.
Davydenko was the highest men’s seed to fall and was joined at the exit by Thomaz Bellucci and Croatia’s 11th seed Marin Cilic, upset 5-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1 by Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
For Federer it was business as usual in his pursuit of a 17th grand slam title but there was no repeat of the magical between-the-legs trick shot he played in his opening match.
“Tougher matches will only be coming up now, I guess,” he said. “It’s gonna be interesting to see how the Saturday conditions are going to be with the hurricane sort of moving in. We’ll see how that goes.”
