The night sessions at the US Open thus far have had absolutely no drama whatsoever when it came to the women's matches and Maria Sharapova ensured that pattern continued on Thursday with an absolutely crushing 6-1 6-2 win against the relatively talented Iveta Benasova. 21 unforced errrors was not going to help Benasova against her experienced opponent and Maria had a relatively easy outing compared to her opening round encounter against Jarmila Groth. With both Maria and Caroline Wozniacki winning with such ease, their mouth watering encounter in the Round of 16 seems more and more a certainty.
The lack of drama on the women's side was compensated to a fair extent by the exciting play of Phillip Petzschner of Germany who provided much entertainment even as he went down 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6) to the third seeded Novak Djokovic. The first set was going fairly smoothly on serve until the German was serving at 4-5 in the opening set and suddenly found himself having to fend off 3 set points. It was then that some kind of fracas took place in the crowd. That seemed to be a welcome break for Petzschner and he mixed in a few classy drop shots with his powerful forehands to level the set at 5-5. The first set seemed headed for a tie break, but in a strange turn of events, Djokovic had to fend off a break point in the subsequent game and then at 5-6 for some inexplicable reason Petzschner decided to hit the ball even harder and try out riskier shots. Djokovic managed to capitalize on the errors being made and instead of a first set tiebreak, he managed to win the set 7-5.
The top seed Caroline Wozniacki is making the most of her rich vein of form; if there is a question about the world number two it is that she may have already overplayed this season. The Dane has played 25 tournaments this year; she will have played for four straight weeks if she keeps her date with the final in New York and only time will tell if she can hold her game all the way into Super Saturday. Meanwhile, she is doing all she can to conserve energy breezing through her early rounds. It took her less than 50 minutes to wrap up her second round match against Kai-Chen Chang. Sharapova was an easy winner but not very convincing in her 66 minute 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Iveta Benesova.
The shocking upset of Andy Roddick seemed to still linger in the air that fills the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. It took the exceptional tennis of the 19th seed Mardy Fish to awaken the subdued crowd in the Armstrong Stadium. The shy man now has the honour of being the highest ranked American left in the draw, and he carried the star spangled banner with dignity. The GOAT Roger Federer got off to a breezy start even as the winds gusted through Arthur Ashe, in a straight set victory over the German Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 41 minutes. The French renaissance - as many as 12 Frenchmen made the second round - took in its wake the sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko; the resurgent Richard Gasquet dominated the Russian for a thumping 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 upset that took an hour and 53 minutes. Also taking the exit route from Flushing Meadows was 11th seed Marin Cilic beaten in a minute under 5 hours by the talented Japanese prodigy Kei Nishikori 5-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.
Day four of the US Open sees the return of the superstars as 5-time champion Roger Federer, 2-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling and former Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic all take center stage. Adding some glamour to proceedings will be former champion Maria Sharapova and last year's losing finalist Caroline Wozniacki.
Sania Mirza found herself at the receiving end of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's wrath as the twentieth seed Russian made short work of the Indian star, 6-2, 6-4. The eighty-one minute contest saw Mirza squander many opportunities before succumbing to mindless hitting and inconsistent shot making.
