Sport

NEW YORK (AP):

Roger Federer strolled into the third round of the US Open yesterday, defeating Germany's Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

Japan's Kei Nishikori, meanwhile, pulled off a surprise by beating 11th-seeded Marin Cilic in a five-set marathon.

Federer needed one hour, 41 minutes, while Nishikori's win in the steaming heat was a strength-sapping, cramp-inducing, injury break-filled affair that took one minute short of five hours.

"I'm pretty tired, of course," Nishikori said after the 5-7, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 win. "I was cramping from the second set. But I kept fighting, fighting."

This is his fifth match at Flushing Meadows - a span that began not this week, but last, when he won three times to make it into the main draw from qualifying.

Nishikori is trying to duplicate his run from two years ago when he became the first Japanese man to reach the fourth round at the US Open since 1937.

Federer, meanwhile, is trying to make his seventh straight US Open final. Keeping things quick and easy during the first week has been key to all that success, and against Beck he stayed with the plan.

The five-time champion served 15 aces, hit 29 winners and won dozens of short, easy points for his second straight easy match this week.

"It's the perfect start, sure," Federer said. "I played Monday, had two days off. I had another easy one physically today, and here I am in the third round feeling like I'm completely in the tournament."

Federer wasn't the only one to breeze. Before his match, Caroline Wozniacki, the top-seeded player on the women's side, swept to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan.

"I've been playing really good tennis," said Wozniacki, who has lost a total of two games in two matches.

No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Mirjana Lucic 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 for her second straight three-set victory. No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, No. 11 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and No. 15 Yanina Wickmayer also advanced.

Inexplicable loss

On the men's side, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia lost 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to Richard Gasquet of France. Davydenko, who broke his wrist earlier this year and is still rounding into form, called the loss inexplicable.

"I don't know if it's the problems with my wrist, or the problem with my head," he said.

Gasquet is part of a good week for his country, which sent 12 players into the second round - a record for the French at the US Open.

Fifth-seeded Robin Soderling won his second-round match, defeating American Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Soderling, who has reached the final at the French Open for two straight years, needed five sets for his first-round victory but had a much easier time with Dent on Thursday. He served 14 aces.