Although Hurricane Earl didn’t bring much rain to the New York area, the remnants of the storm brought wind gusts of up to 25 mph that were playing havoc with the players — starting with Jankovic, who lost 6-2, 7-6 (1) to No. 31 Kaia Kanepi.
“You toss the ball, and it was all over the place,” Jankovic said. “And then you hit the ball one direction, it goes another. You’re just getting ready to hit the ball and it just moves away from you.”
All the players were dealing with the same conditions — it’s just that some of them dealt with them better.
They included No. 5 Robin Soderling, who rolled to a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Thiemo de Bakker. No. 14 Maria Sharapova scored a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash against 18-year-old wildcard Beatrice Capra, who was struggling with the wind.
No. 21 Albert Montanes of Spain advanced when Kei Nishikori of Japan retired in the second set. Nishikori won a five-set, 5-hour match over No. 11 Marin Cilic on Thursday but withdrew from Saturday’s match with a groin injury.
Others scheduled for Saturday included James Blake, who plays No. 3 Novak Djokovic, and No. 2 Roger Federer, whose match followed Sharapova’s.
Friday night, Rafael Nadal's bid for a career Grand Slam and Andy Murray's quest for his first Grand Slam title moved a step closer to a US Open semifinal collision course with impressive triumphs.
Reigning women's champion Kim Clijsters breezed into the last 16 along with US third seed Venus Williams, whose injured world No. 1 sister Serena was on hand to watch her elder sibling for the first time this week.
Wimbledon and French Open champion Nadal defeated 39th-ranked Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to reach a third-round match against France's Gilles Simon, who beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The top seed and Spanish world No 1, trying to become only the seventh man to complete a career Grand Slam by winning his first US Open title, won the last six points of the tie-breaker and saved all seven break points he faced.
"I was a little bit lucky in the tie-breaker of the second set. That's the truth," Nadal said. "He was playing really well. I started the match really well, kept working all the time."
British fourth seed Murray sent off Jamaican Dustin Brown 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 in a match halted about 20 minutes due to rain from nearby Hurricane Earl, which brushed the US eastern coast and brought brisk, swirling winds to the US Open.
Next for Murray, seeking his first Grand Slam title, is Swiss 25th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Belgian second seed Clijsters improved her US Open win streak to 17 matches, including her only Grand Slam title runs from 2005 and 2009, taking the last 12 games in a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Czech Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitova.
Clijsters, who faces fellow former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the fourth round, fell behind 0-3 in 11 minutes before solving the winds.
"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."
Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner who has slid to 40th in the rankings, won the last nine games to oust French wildcard Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0 and match her best US Open run from 2007.
Williams downed Luxembourg's Mandy Minella 6-2, 6-1. Seven-time Grand Slam winner Williams, the last woman to win back-to-back US Open titles, will face Israeli 16th seed Shahar Peer for a quarterfinal berth.
Italian sixth seed Francesca Schiavone reached the fourth round by beating Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 7-5 with help from a Roger Federer-style between-the-legs running from the net shot in the 10th game of the last set.
US men's hopefuls Sam Querrey and John Isner, who could face Murray in the round of 16 and quarterfinals respectively, delighted American fans with wins.
Querrey, seeded 20th, beat Spain's Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 while Wimbledon marathon man Isner ousted Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.
