The quarter-final line-up in the top half of the women's draw at the US Open was put in place on Sunday evening as top seed Victoria Azarenka booked a date with defending champion Samantha Stosur, while Russian diva Maria Sharapova was denied yet another encounter with Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova, who was surprisingly shown the door by the bubbly Marion Bartoli.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka is looking every bit the champion as she continued her dominant run at this year's Open with a crushing 6-2, 6-2 win against Anna Tatishvili of Georgia. Azarenka is yet to drop even three games in any set so far in the tournament and will look to add to her maiden Grand Slam title triumph at Australia earlier this year.

World no.2 and defending champion, Novak Djokovic, breezed past his the third round opponent, the 31st seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau in three straight sets, 63 62 62 to book his place in the last 16 of the 2012 US Open. Such has been Novak's dominance in New York that in the nine sets he has played so far in the tournament he is yet to lose so much as even four games in a set. It was an absolutely flawless performance by the Serbian, adorned with outlandish statistics like an ace count of 13 and an even more impressive winners-errors ratio of 41-12.

Joining him in the last 16 is the 4th seed Spaniard, David Ferrer who came out on top in the " battle of the veterans" against the Australian, Lleyton Hewitt in 4 entertaining sets. Meanwhile, the greatest wish of the day for the New York crowd bore fruit as the crowd favorite, Andy Roddick, has extended his stay in the tennis world for atleast a couple more days, battling past the unseeded Italian, Fabio Fognini in tight four sets. However, the run of another American, Steve Johnson, was brought to a screeching halt as the talented Frenchman, Richard Gasquet picked apart the local boy with relative ease, winning 76(4) 62 63. Also getting a seat booked in the last 16 is the 7th seed and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who had it all easy against his unseeded opponent, Leonardo Mayer, winning 63 75 76(9) in an all- Argentine clash.

The world no.1 and 5-time US Open champion, Roger Federer, proved yet again that no left hander, with the exception of the injured Spaniard Rafael Nadal, can so much as hurt the mighty Swiss, a fact that his latest victim, the 25th seed Fernando Verdasco was forced to learn the hard way. The Swiss Maestro's sublime serving performance meant that a break in each set, largely assisted by the ill-timed double faults from the racquet of his Spanish opponent was sufficient for the legend to book a spot in the last 16, winning the encounter 63 64 64. Meanwhile, another Spaniard in the person of 30th seed Feliciano Lopez gave the 3rd seed and reigning Olympic Champion Andy Murray all he could handle before the Briton scraped past with the help of 3 closely-contested tiebreakers in 4 sets. The final score was 76(5) 76(5) 46 76(4) in favor of Murray.

Joining them in the the last 16 is the 6th seed Czech Tomas Berdych, who after experiencing a minor hiccup in the form of a first set loss, picked up his game to brush aside the big-serving American Sam Querrey 67(6) 64 63 62. Adding to the American exit list is the unseeded American veteran, James Blake, who was steamrolled by the huge-serving 15th seed Canadian, Milos Raonic, wrapping up the affair in easy straight sets, 63 60 76(3). A miserable day for the locals say American upstart Jack Sock following the path of his compatriots losing in four sets to the 11th seed Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro, 76(3) 67(4) 76(2) 61. Also proceeding to the last 16 was Croatian 12th seed, Marin Cilic, who also required four sets to see off his Japanese opponent, the 17th seed Kei Nishkori in four sets, winning it 63 63 67(3) 63.

The bottom half of the draw at the US Open has also taken shape with Serena Williams continuing to look a strong favourite to capture her 15th Grand Slam title. The veteran American looked completely unstoppable as she muscled her way past Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 6-0 in the third round on Saturday afternoon. Joining the American superstar in the last 16 were world no.2 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, German 6th seed Angelique Kerber, French Open runner-up Sara Errani and Serbian diva Ana Ivanovic.

Williams was up against a tricky opponent in Czech left-hander Ekaterina Makarova, who had stunned the American at the Australian Open this year. Makarova kept pace with the former champion early in the contest, saving a slew of breakpoints to hold serve. However, a break at the business end of the set gave Serena the opener, and the world no.4 being a terrific front runner, raced through the second set without losing a game to book her place in the last 16.

World no.2 and defending champion, Novak Djokovic remains firmly on quest to grab his second US Open title in succession as he steamrolled past his most recent victim, Rogerio Dutra Silva 62 61 62. Losing just a handful of games in the first two rounds, the Serbian has reinstated his position as the top favourite to make it all the way in the Big Apple. Meanwhile, the apple of the crowd's eye, the sentimental favorite, Andy Roddick, who had announce on Thursday that the US Open will be his swansong, also rolled past the Australian teenager, Bernard Tomic in easy straight sets 63 64 60. The American, wound back the clock many a years, rediscovering the game that has fetched him his lone Grand Slam title at this very venue back in 2003 to book a spot in 3rd round.

Joining him in the the 3rd round is compatriot John Isner, who was given more of a workout by his opponent, Jarkko Nieminen, working his way towards a four set win. Also proceeding to the round of 32 are the 7th seed and 2009 US Open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro, who also needed four sets, 62 62 26 62 to see of his opponent, American Ryan Harrison and the 4th seed Spaniard, David Ferrer, who breezed past his opponent, Igor Sijsling in straight sets, 62 63 76(12).

World no.1 and reigning Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer rollover over his German opponent Bjorn Phau in straight sets to keep himself very much in contention for an unprecedented 6th US Open title. It was clear, right from the outset, that the Swiss was there to dole out some tennis lessons and if possible, some bakery products as well. Even though, the German was able to prevent the latter, barely missing out on a couple of breadsticks, he could do nothing to prevent the Maestro from delivering a masterclass, adorned with out-of the world statistics, including an incredible winners-errors ration of 44-18 and total ace count of 15. In exactly an hour and 30 minutes, the German's misery was put to an end as Federer continued his regal march across the drawsheet. The final score was 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

The first set started off with the legend taken to deuce in his very first service game and the threat of a competitive contest loomed, which would, finally, end the streak of one-sided "under the lights" affairs. However, it seemed as if Federer was in no mood to let that happen as he shrugged off the initial hiccup to break Phau in just the 4th game to get his nose ahead in the contest. Another routine break in the 8th game rounded off the opening set in favor of Federer and the German just appeared unable to match his illustrious opponent's intensity.