Seeking her third Grand Slam victory of the year, Serena Williams withstood a strong test from Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the fourth round of the US Open Friday. It was an awkward match in Arthur Ashe Stadium for defending champion Serena, full of counterpunches from the game's biggest power hitter. “I heard a guy in the crowd saying, ‘Stop hitting lobs,' so I didn't hit any more lobs after that,” Serena said. “My lob was not working today.” Receiving at 5-all in the first set, Serena chipped back serves, made a few passing shots and found herself at deuce for the eighth time in a game that lasted 12 minutes. Martinez Sanchez finally wore out, double-faulting twice in a row to give up the break and, essentially, the match. Tenth-seeded Flavia Pennetta also moved on, defeating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-1. No. 8 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus fell to No. 26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The men's draw continued to go almost strictly to form, with No. 2 Andy Murray, No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro and No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga all winning. With the third round nearly complete, all the top 16 seeds were still in the tournament. “It was a quick match. I played great,” Tsonga said after his 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen. Murray defeated Paul Capdeville of Chile 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, and del Potro handled Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-3. Also winners were No. 16 Marin Cilic of Croatia, from two sets down against American Jesse Levine, No. 17 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. Serena and Martinez Sanchez were meeting for the first time since the French Open third round, when Serena won in three sets. After that match, Serena said she hit a ball she thought went off her opponent's arm, and accused Martinez Sanchez of cheating by not acknowledging it. There were no signs of animosity during their rematch on a cloudless, comfortable, 80-degree (27-degree C) afternoon. Serena said that episode did not motivate her, nor would she admit to having less respect for her 43rd-ranked opponent because of what happened at Roland Garros. “I only can speak for me,” she said. “I try to be very professional, extremely professional in my job. That's what I'm here to do. And win, I hope.” Serena, who came to her news conference wearing a T-shirt that said “Can't spell dynasty without nasty,” lost only seven games in her first two matches. She doubled that total Friday in the kind of match that very few have to play on the women's – or men's – circuit these days. Serve-and-volley is out, power groundstrokes are in. “Every time I play, I say, ‘I'm going to be a serve-and-volleyer,' Serena said. “I even used to like Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe. But I couldn't play more opposite than them. I love groundstrokes, I love rallies, I love hitting the ball.” Serena, bidding for her fourth US Open title, next meets 22nd-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, who defeated American Vania King 6-2, 6-2. China's Li Na also reached the fourth round late Friday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Maria Kirilenko of Russia. The 18th seed will play Italy's Francesca Schiavone for a place in the quarterfinals, which would represent Li's best performance at Flushing Meadows, having gone out in the fourth round in both 2006 and 2008. On Thursday Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick signaled the strength of their challenges for the US Open title by breezing into the third round with comfortable victories. Djokovic, a runner-up in 2007, beat Australia's Carsten Ball 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, while Roddick cruised past France's Marc Gicquel 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Both will face American opponents in round three: Serbia's Djokovic against No. 276-ranked Jesse Witten and Roddick against big-serving compatriot Jon Isner. “There's a lot more against John that's out of my hands,” Roddick said. “I know he's going to come out and just play super, super aggressive,” Roddick said. “I'm just going to have to stay the course.” It was a good day for the seeded men, who all progressed, including No.8 Nikolay Davyenko and No.10 Fernando Verdasco, who both won in straight sets. Verdasco has a difficult task in the third round against German Tommy Haas, who also was a straight-sets winner Thursday, while Davydenko will face Swiss Marco Chiudinelli.
