Former world number one Ana Ivanovic took another step forward in her recent renaissance when she beat 21st seed Zheng Jie 6-3 6-0 to reach the third round of the US Open.
The Serbian, who topped the rankings just two years ago, smashed 22 winners en route to an impressive victory in just 56 minutes on a hot Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Ivanovic was beaten in the first round in New York last year but has been slowly making her way back up the rankings and was far too strong for Zheng.
Zheng had no answer to Ivanovic’s power and after taking the first set, the Serb raced through the second to set up a clash with another Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano after she dispatched 13th seed Marion Bartoli 7-5 6-4.
Venus Williams kept the flag flying for American tennis’s most famous family when she beat Canada’s Rebecca Marino 7-6(3) 6-3 in the second round.
Marino gave the third seed a brief scare when she pushed the opening set to a tiebreak but Williams was able to raise her game in the second and wrap up a comfortable victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams, US Open champion in 2000 and 2001, is the highest-ranked American in the women’s draw this year after her sister, world number one Serena, withdrew because of a foot injury.
Serena is following her elder sister’s efforts at Flushing Meadows from afar but Venus would not reveal the feedback she has been receiving.
“That’s between Serena and I,” Williams said. “But she’s always very positive.”
The 30-year-old Williams has never gone out before the last 16 in New York but having not played any tournaments in the lead-up because of knee tendinitis, she looked a little rusty.
But after taking the first set on the tiebreak, she slowly found her game in the second set to run out a comfortable winner.
Williams said she was not allowing herself to look any further ahead than her next opponent, Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella, a qualifier in her first Grand Slam event, who upset Bulgarian 32nd seed Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 6-0.
“I’m really just going match by match,” Williams said. “I’m not thinking about dusting off any rust or where I might be.
“I thought I made a quick turnaround this summer to try to get ready (for the US Open). I’m glad that I’m just in the singles as that way I have a chance to recover between rounds.”
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone eased through her all-Italian second-round encounter with a 6-2 6-1 win over Maria Elena Camerin.
The number six seed started her match confidently on the Grandstand court and needed just 65 minutes to eliminate the qualifier from Milan, who now lives in London.
While temperatures remained high, the two Italians were sheltered from the sun for most of their match by the shadows of neighbouring Louis Armstrong Stadium.
But while Camerin was able to dodge the sun, the world number 41 could not escape some attacking tennis from her countrywoman, who cleverly mixed up her all-round game.
Schiavone, who is currently without a coach, converted all five of the break point opportunities she had in the match.
She looked on course for a 6-0 win in the second set but Camerin stopped the onslaught by nervously holding serve for only the second time in the match.
That only briefly delayed the inevitable and the result means the 30-year-old Schiavone has lost just four games and spent a little over two hours on court in her two matches to date at Flushing Meadows.
Fifth seed Samantha Stosur reached the third round of the for the first time in her career when she beat fellow Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-4.
The French Open runner-up had never been beyond round two in six previous visits to Flushing Meadows but too strong for world number 62 Rodionova and won in just 64 minutes.
Stosur had been struggling with a nagging injury to her right arm before arriving in New York but looked more like her normal self as she attacked with her serve and forehand.
An early break put her ahead in the second set and though Rodionova had a break point to level at 4-4, Stosur held her advantage to set up a meeting with unseeded Sara Errani, after the Italian beat 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3.
Midnight struck early for 2009 US Open Cinderella Melanie Oudin at this year’s championship as the 18-year-old American succumbed to nerves and the steady ground-strokes of Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko.
Oudin, who blazed into the quarter-finals last year riding the support of the thunderous Flushing Meadows crowds, said she felt tight and did not play to potential in her 6-2 7-5 loss to the 29th seed.
“I think the nerves got the best of me today a little bit,” said Oudin, who made 21 unforced errors in the first set and 38 in total.
Last year, Oudin came from nowhere to upset ranked Russians Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova but came up short against Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.
Oudin, the highest ranked American woman after Serena and Venus Williams, admitted to having trouble dealing with the heightened expectations heading into this year’s US Open.
“It’s tough coming back, especially after the US Open I had last year, and expecting to do that well again,” she said.
“The expectations for me from the fans were extremely high. You could tell by the crowd. The second I walked out there, people expected me to win again like last year.”
Reuters
