It's Nishikori's day at New York; Clijsters through

Kim Clijsters erased an early first-set deficit and put her hopes of defending her U.S. Open title back on track with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Petra Kvitova on Friday that secured the Belgian a spot in the fourth round.

The second seed's hopes of extending her winning streak at Flushing Meadows to 17 matches took a dent when she dropped to a 3-0 deficit against her Czech opponent.

But Kvitova, who knocked out then number one seed Dinara Safina from last year's U.S. Open, lacked the consistency to pull off another major shock.

The left-hander failed to win a single game after her quick start as Clijsters rounded things off in the style by winning 12 straight games.

Number 11 seed Elena Dementieva recovered from a first-set slump to continue her strong record against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova with 7-5, 6-2 win.

India's Rohan Bopanna and his partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan also progressed on Friday.

The 16th-seeded duo got the better of the German-Finnish combine of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen at 6-4, 6-4.

Earlier on Thursday, Kei Nishikori began to worry about a major physical breakdown after battling for hours in severe heat, but the Japanese qualifier set aside his fears and fought into the men's third round.

The 147th-ranked prodigy outlasted Croatian 11th seed Marin Cilic 5-7, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-1 in a five-hour endurance test on the same Grandstand court where Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka was felled by cramps in 1995.

“I see him many times on TV,” Nishikori said. “It was always too sad to see that because no one can help. He just has to lay down and nobody could do anything.”

Matsuoka collapsed on the court, writhing in pain but was unaided by trainers not wanting to disqualify him.

But the memory haunted 20-year-old Nishikori as he cramped in the second and third sets and trailed in the gruelling heat.

“I was thinking about it in the fourth set mostly — Even if I win this I have to play one more set. It's not going to be easy for me,” Nishikori said. “But I was able to fight through.”

Cilic fired an ace for a 6-5 lead in the second-set tie-breaker. Nishikori answered with a forehand smash and an ace of his own to take the set when Cilic double faulted.

The Croatian won the only break-point chance of the third set with a backhand winner in the eighth game. When the two battled in another tie-break in the fourth set, it was Nishikori who seized the moment.

Nishikori hit a drop volley winner for a 6-3 tie-break edge, forcing a fifth set when Cilic sent a crosscourt backhand wide. The Japanese dominated the final set as Cilic surrendered three breaks.

Djokovic progresses

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic rolled into the third round while sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko had to endure defeat. Swiss second seed Federer, seeking his 17th Grand Slam crown and a seventh consecutive trip to the U.S. Open final, eliminated Germany's 104th-ranked Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 41 minutes at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic advanced 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6) over German Philipp Petzschner. Djokovic reached the 2007 U.S. Open final and the Flushing Meadows semifinals in the past two years, each time losing to Federer, whom he could again face in the semifinals this time.

Asked if could duplicate Federer's now-infamous between-the-legs shot from a Monday victory and last year's semifinal triumph over Djokovic, the Serbian drew a laugh from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.

“No, I have something else between my legs. But don't worry, I will not show it to you tonight,” Djokovic said.

Russian Davydenko, a 2006 and 2007 U.S. Open semifinal loser to Federer, fell 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to 38th-ranked Richard Gasquet. Gasquet, who is among a record 12 Frenchmen to reach the second round, lost only seven of 52 points on his first serve as Davydenko made his quickest US Open exit since 2005.

Davydenko joined a U.S. Open seeded scrap heap that includes No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, U.S. ninth seed Andy Roddick and Croatia's Cilic.

Meaning business

Maria Sharapova gave further indications that she is close to being back to her best after an injury-blighted 2009 as she stormed into the third round.

The 23-year-old Russian glamour girl powered past Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2, sending out a warning that she is capable of winning for a second time at Flushing Meadows, four years after her first title.

The win sets her up nicely for a possible showdown with top seed and runner-up here last year, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, in the fourth round.

There was an upset at the Grandstand Court as the unheralded Capra ousted French 18th seed Aravane Rezai 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Capra is making her debut in a WTA Tour tournament, and was the youngest player remaining in the women's draw and also the lowest-ranked at 371.

It's over

Sania Mirza's campaign ended after she lost her women's doubles first round match along with Russian partner Vera Dushevina to 11th seeds Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova here.

Already out of the singles, Sania and her partner lost 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-7(3). — Agencies

Prefix denotes seeding

Men: Second round: Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Julien Benneteau (Fra) 6-4, 6-6, retired; Michael Llodra (Fra) bt Victor Hanescu (Rou) 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2

21-Albert Montanes (Esp) bt Carsten Ball (Aus) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1; 19-Mardy Fish (USA) bt Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 7-5, 6-0, 6-2; Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Eduardo Schwank (Arg) 6-3, 5-5, retd.; Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt 6-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Andreas Beck (Ger) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt 11-Marin Cilic (Cro) 5-7, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-1; Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt Guillaume Rufin (Fra) 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-3; 5-Robin Soderling (Swe) bt Taylor Dent (USA) 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; Thiemo de Bakker (Ned) bt Ivan Dodig (Cro) 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3, 3-2, retd.; 13-Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5; James Blake (USA) bt Peter Polansky (Can) 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 22-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Ricardo Mello (Bra) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; Kevin Anderson (RSA) bt 26-Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) 6-7(4), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(2); 3-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Philipp Petzschner (Ger) 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(6).

Doubles: second round: 16-Rohan Bopanna (Ind) / 16-Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Michael Kohlmann (Ger) / Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 6-4, 6-4.

Women: Third round: 12-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt 24-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 7-5, 6-2; 5-Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Sara Errani (Ita) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt 27-Petra Kvitova (Cze) 6-3, 6-0.

Second round: 11-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Anastasija Sevastova (Lat) 6-2, 6-3; Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(7); Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Esp) bt Urszula Radwanska (Pol) 6-2, 7-5; 4-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Mirjana Lucic (Cro) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; 31-Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-4; 25-Alexandra Dulgheru (Rom) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 7-6(5), 6-1; 23-Maria Kirilenko (Rus) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0; Peng Shuai (Chn) bt 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4; Andrea Petkovic (Ger) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sans (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; 14-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-1, 6-2.