Nadal gets a scare before advancing to Round Four

Rafael Nadal pulled out a tough first set en route to a straight sets win over Nalbandian.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal pulled out a tough first set en route to a straight sets win over David Nalbandian to enter the fourth round on Sunday. Nadal won 7-6 5 6-2 7-5 over the Argentine in an early morning match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Nadals victory was delayed when his service was broken at 5-3 in the third set but he stayed on target for a fifth major in his last eight attempts by breaking his frequent training partner in the final game. He will next play Luxembourgs Gilles Muller,who beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-1 6-4 6-4.

Italys Flavia Pennetta and Angelique Kerber of Germany will meet in the quarterfinals after each won in straight sets,although in entirely different circumstances. No. 24 Pennetta won 6-4 7-6 6 against No. 13 Shuai Peng of China,while the 92nd-ranked Kerber beat Romanias Monique Niculescu 6-4 6-3.

Meanwhile,the two current world number ones,Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki,continued with their easy wins,breezing through with straight-set victories overcoming minor problems. Djokovic beat Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-3 6-4 6-2 while Wozniacki produced a methodical 6-2 6-4 victory over unseeded American Vania King. Davydenko presented Djokovic with some problems early on but the top seed eventually worked him out and was glad to have been pushed.

Wozniacki struggled with her serve as the wind on centre court blew hard. Her next opponent is Russias Svetlana Kuznetsova,the 2004 US Open champion,who beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4 6-2.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams also came through their first real tests at the US Open to move to the fourth round. Federer beat Croatias Marin Cilic 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2,dropping a set for the first time in the tournament. Williams beat fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-1 7-6. The American raced through the first set in less than half an hour but began to tire in the second,failing to serve out the match as Azarenka forced the tiebreaker.

Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat American wildcard Sloane Stephens 6-3 6-4 while Jelena Jankovic,a finalist here three years ago,was bundled out 6-4 6-4 by Russias Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Tomas Berdych quit against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in the second set because of shoulder pain. Spains Marcel Granollers also threw in the towel,taking the total number of retirements to 14,a record at a Grand Slam,with two walkovers and two withdrawals.

Indian clash in doubles

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In the mens doubles pre-quarterfinal,Somdev Devvarman and his Filipino partner Treat Conrad Huey will lock horns with veterans Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes after both pairs won their respective second-round matches.

Somdev and Huey upstaged 14th seed Argentines Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank 6-3 6-4 while Fourth seeds Paes and Bhupathi beat German Florian Mayer and Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands 7-6 5 6-2. Earlier,fifth seeded Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi beat American James Cerretani and Philipp Marx of Germany 7-6 3 7-6 4 and will next take on Paul Hanley of Australia and Belgiums Dick Norman.