No. 4 seed Agniesza Radwanska became the first high profile casualty of the 2014 US Open on Day 3, but Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep advanced.
There were also wins for 13th seed Sara Errani and 14th seed Lucie Safarova.
Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka recovered from a fourth-set blip to beat Brazil’s Tomasz Bellucci, and there were wins for Grigor Dimitrov, Thomas Berdych and Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
Denmark’s fourth 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki got the better of Belarussian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-3 6-4, despite a hairy situation.
Wozniacki, who is also training for November’s New York marathon, got her hair stuck in her racquet midway through a point during their contest at the Grand Stand.
“Once it gets to a certain length sometimes it can get stuck in the arm or the racquet,” Wozniacki explained.
“You know, I still tried to hit the ball. And almost took my head off.”
On combining tennis with running, Wozniacki, who has won 15 of her last 18 matches, told reporters: : “So it’s only a positive when you go out on the tennis court. You know you can run out there all day if you want to, if you need to.
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Swiss third-seed Wawrinka overcame a mid-match lapse to see off Brazil’s Bellucci 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-1) and reach the US Open last 32.
Wawrinka went from being a break down in the fourth set to setting up Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, ranked one place below Bellucci at 92 in the world, in the third round.
“I tried to focus more on my game and not on what he was doing,” Wawrinka said. “I was playing a little bit smarter at the end of the match.”
Czech Republic’s Thomas Berdych proved too good for Australia’s former world number 1 Lleyton Hewitt.
The 6th seed dispatched the 33-year-old 2001 champion 6-3 6-4 6-3 in their first round clash on Wednesday.
When quizzed if he’ll be back next year, Hewitt replied: “Don’t know. Get that asked every week. Don’t know. I haven’t even thought about it.”
Two-time champion Venus Williams reached the third round for the first time in four years, with a 6-1 6-4 win over Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky.
Seeded 19th at this year’s championship, Williams powered through the first set in just 31 minutes and, after the two players held tightly to their serves for the first eight games of the second set, she broke at 4-all and served the match out, producing a total of 20 winners in the match.
“I feel like I play my best when my opponent pushes me really,” said Williams.
“Once we start to, you know, really start to get into a slugfest, I feel like I really relax. Sometimes I feel like when they aren’t pushing me as much maybe I’m a little too passive at times.”
French Open champion Maria Sharapova came back from a set down to dismissing Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 4-6 6-3 6-2.
No WTA player has won more three-setters this year than Sharapova- seeded 5th at Flushing Meadows- with Wednesday’s win being her 17th.
“We started under the sun and finished under the lights,” said Sharapova.
“It was tricky conditions, a tough opponent so I’m very happy I was able to come back and come through and win this match.”
America’s Sloane Stephens was another upset of day 3, going down to Johanna Larsson of Sweden after winning the first set and going 3-0 up in the second.
The No. 21 seed Sloane, after being the only player to reach the second week of all six Grand Slam between the 2013 Australian Open and the French Open this year, has fallen first week a the last two Majors, this time losing 5-7 6-4 6-2.
Louis Armstrong Stadium
China’s Pen Shuai came up with a surprise 6-3 6-4 win over Polish fourth seed Radwanska in the first match of day 3.
The results leaves Radwanska still in search of her first US Open quarter-finals appearance.
World number two Simona Halep beat Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova 6-2 6-1.
Grigor Dimitrov made easier work of his second-round tie, dispatching American Ryan Harrison 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 in a little over two hours.
Marin Cilic beat Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 3-1.
Grandstand
Feliciano Lopez (Spa) (19) beat Ivan Dodig (Cro) 1-6 7-5 2-6 6-4 1-1 (Dodig retired)
Jelena Jankovic (Srb) (9) beat Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-5 6-4
Caroline Wozniacki (Den) (10) beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Bel) 6-3 6-4
Ernests Gulbis (Lat) (11) beat Kenny de Schepper (Fra) 6-1 6-4 6-2
Other Selected Women’s Results
Belinda Bencic beat Kurumi Nara (31 seed) 6-4 4-6 6-1
Angelique Kerber (Germany) (6) beat Alla Kedryavtseva (Russia) 6-2 6-4
Jelena Jankovic beat Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5 6-4
Andrea Petkovic beat Monica Puig 3-6 6-3 7-5 (5)
