Skip to main content

Latest on US Open: Kvitova advances to 4th round

NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on the US Open (all times local):

11 p.m.

Andy Murray made things much easier on himself this time.

Two days after rallying from two sets down to win in five, the third-seeded Murray swept Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in 2 hours, 11 minutes Saturday night in the third round of the U.S. Open.

Murray was broken in his second service game by the 30th-seeded Brazilian but had little trouble after that.

He next faces 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson.

---

8:25 p.m.

Second-seeded Simona Halep made quick work of her third-round match at the U.S. Open.

Facing a qualifier who had never advanced this far at a major, Halep beat 154th-ranked American Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-3 in 67 minutes Saturday night.

Halep matched her deepest run at the U.S. Open, the only Grand Slam tournament at which she hasn't reached at least the quarterfinals.

---

7 p.m.

Donald Young is winning a lot of fans at the U.S. Open.

The American again came from behind Saturday, again backed by a raucous crowd as he rallied from two sets down to stun 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki.

''It was 90 percent you guys, 10 percent me,'' he told the fans at the Grandstand in an on-court interview.

Another assist came from the trainer who ''worked some magic'' on his lower back after he failed to win a game in the second set.

''I was able to continue and fight,'' Young said, ''and somehow I was able to pull it out. I still don't know how, but I'll take it.''

He added he has been ''killing it, doing everything possible'' in the gym to ensure his conditioning will allow him to win matches like this one.

''It was a weak point for most of my career,'' Young said, ''and it was something you have full control over, so I wasn't going to let that hold me back anymore.''

---

6:50 p.m.

Donald Young has done it again.

The American rallied from two sets down for the second time in three rounds to match his best run at a major. Young stunned 22nd-seeded Viktor Troicki 4-6, 0-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-4 in 3 hours, 33 minutes Saturday to reach the fourth round at the U.S. Open.

Before Tuesday, the 68th-ranked Young had been 0-17 in his career when dropping the first two sets. Now he's made that comeback twice in five days. Young was down two sets and a break against 11th-seeded Gilles Simon in the first round.

After failing to win a game in the second set Saturday, Young had treatment on his lower back and took control of the match from then on.

Young again had a boisterous crowd behind him on one of Flushing Meadow's cozier show courts. He won on Court 17 in the first two rounds, coming back from down a set to win in four Thursday. On Saturday, the fans were chanting ''U-S-A! U-S-A!'' for him on the bigger Grandstand.

Young also made the fourth round at the 2011 U.S. Open.

---

6:05 p.m.

Victoria Azarenka ''pinished'' Angelique Kerber.

After closing out a grueling three-set victory that took near 3 hours, Azarenka revealed that hitting partner Sascha Bajin had coined a new term that combined the words ''finish'' and ''punish.'' She consults notes to herself between games, and that's the word that steadied her after she wasted five match points on the 11th-seeded Kerber's serve.

She said in an on-court interview that she told herself ''I'm going to stay here all day'' if that was what it took to win.

Instead, the 20th-seeded Azarenka served out the match at love to clinch a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 victory in the third round Saturday. The two combined for 97 winners and 12 breaks of serve and played 35 rallies of at least 10 shots.

''I just enjoy this hustle, this running down every ball,'' Azarenka said.

She next faces American Varvara Lepchenko.

---

5:25 p.m.

American Varvara Lepchenko has reached the fourth round at the U.S. Open for the first time.

With the home crowd willing her on at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the 46th-ranked Lepchenko rallied from a tough first set to beat No. 53 Mona Barthel of Germany 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday. Lepchenko, 29, matched her best performance at a major after also reaching the round of 16 at the 2012 French Open.

Barthel has never advanced past the third round at a Grand Slam tournament.

Lepchenko was one of seven American women in the third round, the most since 2004. She was born in Uzbekistan, and her family received political asylum in the U.S. when she was 15. Lepchenko has been competing for the United States since 2007 and became an American citizen in 2011.

---

4:50 p.m.

John Isner is best known for a match that lasted more than 11 hours over three days and went to the 138th game of the fifth set. So he knows how unusual - and valuable - it is that he has dropped just 27 games through three rounds at this year's U.S. Open.

Those are Roger Federer-like numbers - the Swiss great has lost 20 games through three rounds here, in fact - and that could prove crucial when Isner faces the 17-time major champion in the fourth round.

He got some outside help Saturday when his opponent, Jiri Vesely, retired because of a neck injury after the 13th-seeded Isner won the first two sets 6-3, 6-4.

While Isner's famous 2010 Wimbledon marathon against Nicolas Mahut is the extreme, the big-serving American does tend to play long matches. He's grateful that he'll have a full tank for Monday's meeting with Federer.

''That bodes well for me,'' Isner said. ''Same goes for him, but he's generally in that position. I'm going to go out there and roll the dice.''

Vesely's retirement is the 16th of the tournament, setting a record for a major in the Open era, which started in 1968.

---

3 p.m.

U.S. Open tournament director David Brewer says Eugenie Bouchard has pulled out of women's doubles and mixed doubles after getting a head injury when she slipped and fell in the locker room.

Brewer issued a statement Saturday, a day after Bouchard won her third-round singles match. Bouchard, the runner-up at Wimbledon last year, is seeded 25th in singles.

Brewer says it hasn't been determined whether Bouchard will stay in the singles event.

The Canadian was entered in doubles with Elena Vesnina and in mixed doubles with Nick Kyrgios.

---

2:50 p.m.

Roger Federer finally got broken - twice, actually - but was in control pretty much the entire way en route to the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the 15th consecutive year.

The No. 2-seeded Federer beat No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

Federer has won each of his nine sets through three matches, dropping only a total of 20 games so far.

The 17-time major champion, who won the U.S. Open five times in a row from 2004-08, entered the match against Kohlschreiber having won 72 straight service games, including all 23 in New York.

Kohlschreiber broke Federer once in each of the last two sets - and Federer broke right back each time.

Federer, now 10-0 against Kohlschreiber, faces 13th-seeded John Isner of the United States for a spot in the quarterfinals.

---

1:10 p.m.

British qualifier Johanna Konta ran her winning streak to 16 matches by beating 18th-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (2) 6-3 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

It was an impressive follow-up for Konta, whose previous match was a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4) 6-2 victory over Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza that lasted 3 hours, 23 minutes, the longest U.S. Open women's match since the introduction of the tiebreaker in 1970.

Konta's winning streak includes three main-draw U.S. Open matches, three qualifying matches at Flushing Meadows, and nine matches at low-tier events.

Petkovic appeared bothered by the heat during the second set. Trailing 3-0, she had the trainer on court taking her blood pressure and pulse.

The 97th-ranked Konta needed six match points to finish the victory in 1 hour, 56 minutes.

Konta failed to take advantage of three match points in the 18-point seventh game, allowing Petkovic to break her serve.

Two games later, Konta secured the win on her third match point of the ninth game, when Petkovic sailed a forehand long.

---

12:40 p.m.

No. 5 seed Petra Kvitova has moved into the fourth round of the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 6-1 win against 32nd-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

It will be two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova's third appearance in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, but she is 0-2 at that stage.

Kvitova never presented Schmiedlova with a break opportunity in the 66-minute match. The Czech star converted five of her nine break chances.