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Pennetta breezes through

Hantuchova cruises; Jankovic falls by the wayside

NEW YORK: Italy’s Flavia Pennetta underlined her US Open challenge with another rapid-fire win on Friday. The 27-year-old 10th seed demolished Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-1 and has lost just four games in three rounds.

Also through into the fourth round from the bottom half of the draw was Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who defeated Vania King of the United States 6-2, 6-2.

Pennetta, making her sixth appearance at the US Open, has made giant strides forward this year, building on an excellent 2008 when she reached the last eight here and the fourth round at the French Open.

She won titles at Palermo in July and Los Angeles last month and came into New York in the best form of her career.

Asked what had inspired her rich vein of form over the last few weeks, Pennetta replied: “I just started to win more and more matches.”

“I started to have more confidence and everything has come around.

“Tennis, it’s a very strange sport, because for one point everything can change. You have to be very mentally focused at all moments.”

Tsonga on song

In men’s action, — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced to the third round by beating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Frenchman had 45 winners and converted all three of his break-point chances to improve to 38-14 this year.

Tsonga has reached the third round at Flushing Meadows in three consecutive years but has yet to advance past this point. The 2008 Australian Open finalist lost to Tommy Robredo last year and Rafael Nadal in his U.S. Open debut in 2007.

Earlier, the No. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic lost 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in a 2 hour-40 minute match. Jankovic reached the final in 2008, but she said she wasn’t focused on this day: Her grandmother died on Wednesday.

No. 23 Sabine Lisicki of Germany also is gone, having left in tears as she was taken away in a wheelchair after injuring her ankle at the end of a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 defeat against Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.

No seeded men lost on Thursday, when the winners included 2007 runner-up Novak Djokovic and five Americans: No. 5 Andy Roddick, No. 21 James Blake, No. 22 Sam Querrey, 55th-ranked John Isner and 276th-ranked Jesse Witten.

Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and 2006 runner-up, beat Marc Gicquel of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 at night and now takes on the 6-foot-9 Isner.

Djokovic cruised by Australian qualifier Carsten Ball 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Also advancing were No. 8-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Fernando Verdasco and No. 14 Tommy Robredo of Spain, No. 15 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and No. 20 Tommy Haas of Germany.

On the women’s side, 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, No. 13 Nadia Petrova of Russia, No. 21 Zheng Jie of China and No. 24 Sorana Cirstea of Romania progressed.

2006 champion Maria Sharapova, eliminated 17-year-old American, Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1 at night.

The 381st-ranked McHale was a wild-card entry who didn’t really challenge Sharapova.

After saving two match points, Shvedova closed out Jankovic in the third-set tiebreaker with her sixth ace after setting up her match point with an overhead slam to end a long rally.

It was her first win over a top 10 player.

“It felt like I was on the court all day,” she said. — AP

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Men: Singles: Second round:

7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.

20-Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Robert Kendrick (USA) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3); Jesse Witten (USA) bt Maximo Gonzalez (Arg) 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; 10-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-3, 6-0, 6-3; 22-Sam Querrey (USA) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4; 12-Robin Soderling (Swe) w/o Marcel Granollers (Esp), 8-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; 14-Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Marco Chiudinelli (Sui) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-3; 15-Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4; 21-James Blake (USA) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-3; John Isner (USA) bt Marsel Ilhan (Tur) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(1); 4-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Carsten Ball (Aus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 23-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Somdev Devvarman (Ind) 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2; 5-Andy Roddick (USA) bt Marc Giquel (Fra) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles: First round: 3-Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Mark Knowles (Bah) bt James Cerretani (USA) & Lovro Zovko (Cro) 6-3, 6-4.

Women: singles: Third round: 10-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) 6-1, 6-1; 22-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Vania King (USA) 6-2, 6-2.

Second round: Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-1, 6-1; 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Petra Martic (Cro) 6-1, 6-0; 21-Zheng Jie (Chn) bt Alize Cornet (Fra) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 6-1, 6-3; Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Shuai Peng (Chn) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4; Sara Errani (Ita) bt 19-Patty Schnyder (Sui) 7-5, 6-2; Anastasia Rodionova (Rus) bt 23-Sabine Lisicki (Ger) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) bt 5-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6); 6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 6-4, 6-2; Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (Esp) 6-2, 6-0; 29-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Christina McHale (USA) 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles: First round: 14-Sania Mirza (Ind) & Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) & Renata Voracova (Cze) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Mixed doubles: First round: Sania Mirza (Ind) & Daniel Nestor (Can) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) & Ashley Fisher (Aus) 6-3, 6-1; 2-Cara Black (Zim) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt Patty Schnyder (Sui) & Wesley Moodie (RSA) 6-4, 3-6, 11-9. — Agencies

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