Somdev a win away from main draw

Somdev, a two-time US collegiate winner from University of Virginia, next plays Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz who beat Frenchman Alexandfre Sidorenko, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to get to the final round on Thursday.

Somdev took the first set with little difficulty, but Sijsling waged a relentless battle to win the second-set tie-break. The set -- the best of the match with no service break -- was replete with long rallies and Somdev came up with some crisp volleying.

Sania’s challenge

Struggling to advance beyond second rounds of Grand Slam events all season, Sania Mirza opens her US Open campaign against world number 64 Olga Govortsova of Belarus. The one-to-one record between the world number 71 Sania and her Belarussian rival is tied 1-1.

Sania had beaten Govortsova in a qualifying event in 2007 and the Belarussian settled the score with a win in Doha next year. If Sania clears the first hurdle, she may run into 10th seed Italian Flavia Pennetta in the second round.

Meanwhile, the top seeds in both the men's and women's events at the New Haven Open in Connecticut lost on Thursday as Russian pair Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nikolay Davydenko bowed out with quarterfinal defeats.

World number six Kuznetsova was unable to shake off former number one Amelie Mauresmo of France, who staved off five set points in the opener on her way to a 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 upset win over the 24-year-old.

Matching Mauresmo's big victory was American Sam Querrey, who overpowered Davydenko in a dramatic 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 triumph.

Querrey had 15 aces in defeating the world number eight and heads into next week's final slam of the year having 19 of his past 24 matches. In the semis, the tall American will play Argentina's Jose Acasuso, who defeated Florent Serra 7-5, 6-4.
Igor Andreev outlasted Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 and will play Fernando Verdasco in the other last four encounter after the second seed beat Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1.
On the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki dispatched Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-3 and will meet Flavia Pennetta, who beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-2.

Elena Vesnina defeated fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 7-5 to set up a showdown against Mauresmo on Friday.