NEW YORK – Polish second seed and Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska matched her best US Open performance Saturday by reaching the fourth round with a 6-3, 7-5 win over error-plagued Jelena Jankovic. Radwanska recorded her 51st victory of the year as she and the 30th-ranked Serb, a former world No. 1 and 2008 finalist, toiled in 32-degree Celsius heat. “It's always tough and tight when we play. But I prepared well and I am happy to come through in straight sets,” said Radwanska, who goes on to face Italian 20th seed Roberta Vinci for a place in the quarterfinals. Vinci reached the last 16 for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Slovakia's 13th seed Dominika Cibulkova, a quarterfinalist in 2010. Radwanska triumphed in a gruelling 98-minute contest which featured 10 breaks of serve, with Jankovic finally undone by her 37 unforced errors, the last of which came on match point with a wild, ballooned forehand. Radwanska again played with heavy strapping on her right shoulder but insisted she was not hurt. “The shoulder is quite good, no complaints. I have played three very good matches here,” said the 23-year-old. Vinci equalled her best Grand Slam performance with a fourth successive victory over Cibulkova and third this year after previous wins in Indian Wells and Madrid. The 29-year-old had also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. On Friday, Andy Roddick served notice he will not go gently into retirement, blasting into the third round by dispatching Australian teen Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in only 87 minutes. Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to loud cheers from supporters a day after announcing this would be the last event of his career, then made sure he would have at least one more match to play. “Oh man. That was so much fun. I really appreciate that,” Roddick said. “I am going to try to stick around a little longer.” The 30-year-old American advanced to a third-round matchup with Italy's 59th-ranked Fabio Fognini as he hopes to make an emotional last charge at a Grand Slam crown on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts. “I didn't feel relaxed at all, not even a little bit,” Roddick said. “I had no idea what was going to happen out there. That was a different kind of nerves than I've had before. That was surprising for me.” Roddick said he became emotional shortly before the match when he saw a tribute to his career being shown on television in the locker room. “That was surprising for me. I felt weird before the match. Twenty minutes before it was kind of getting the best of me. I had to get my stuff together before I walked out there. I played well and I don't know why.” Roddick said the entire day was an emotional rollercoaster as he contemplated the possibility it would be the last match of his career. Roddick said his coach, Larry Stefanki, was responsible for calming his nerves. “Larry had to come over and kind of tell me to knock it off,” Roddick said. Defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced in straight sets while three former champions – Russian third seed Maria Sharapova, Argentine seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro and Australian Lleyton Hewitt – moved on with varying degrees of difficulty. And World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, the reigning Australian Open champion from Belarus, routed China's Zheng Jie 6-0, 6-1 in 59 minutes to book a round of 16 match with Georgia's Anna Tatishvili. Azarenka has dropped a tournament-low six games in three matches. Serbian second seed Djokovic overwhelmed Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, never facing a break point and winning 90 percent of his first-serve points to reach the third round in 99 minutes. “It was very windy so it was very important to stay focused, but I played great,” Djokovic said. “Even if the scoreline doesn't indicate it, it was a tough match.” Next for Djokovic will be France's 31st-seeded Julien Benneteau, who ousted Russian-born US teen Dennis Novikov, the lowest-ranked player ever in the second round of a Grand Slam event at 1,098th, by 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), 7-5. “It's important to get a day's rest and work on some things in my game and get ready for the next challenge,” Djokovic said. Sharapova, the 2006 US Open champion who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open title in June, eliminated 252nd-ranked US collegian Mallory Burdette 6-1, 6-1. “I'm really happy to go one round further than last year,” the Russian said. Next up for Sharapova is a fourth-round meeting with 19th-seeded comnpatriot Nadia Petrova. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open winner, took a 6-2, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory over American Ryan Harrison and will play for a place in the last 16 against compatriot Leonardo Mayer. Hewitt, the 2001 US Open winner, outlasted Luxenbourg's Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-4. He will next face Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer. Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova ousted Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4 to reach a round-of-16 match against her third consecutive French foe, 11th seed Marion Bartoli. Among the other leading men's seeds, Janko Tipsarevic comfortably beat Brian Baker of the United States, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 while leading local hope John Isner suffered a rare tiebreaker loss but still defeated Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3. — Agencies
