<p>Defending champions Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek progressed to the men's doubles third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows here.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Indo-Czech tennis pair needed only an hour and 23 minutes to move past Chinese Taipei-Czech combine of Yen-Hsun Lu and Jiri Vesely 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round on Court No.5.<br /><br />Both the teams broke their opponents once in the first set leading to the tie-breaker which the sixth seeds won quite easily.<br /><br />In the second set, Lu and Vesely broke Paes and Stepanek once but the defending champions broke the unseeded pair twice which proved to be the difference.<br /><br />Lu and Vesely's five double faults at crucial junctures of the match also did not help them as the number of aces, winners and unforced errors were more or less similar.<br /><br />Halep, Kerber toppled, valiant Venus falls at US Open<br /><br />The US Open women's draw was blown wide open as world number two Simona Halep, sixth seed Angelique Kerber and two-time champion Venus Williams tumbled out of the third round.<br /><br />Two players at opposite ends of the tennis age spectrum authored the upsets of the day.<br /><br />Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a former phenom now a 32-year-old veteran who had to fight through qualifying, shocked second-seeded Halep, the French Open runner-up 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.<br /><br />And 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic toppled Germany's Kerber 6-1, 7-5.<br /><br />The reward for the 121st-ranked Lucic-Baroni is a fourth-round meeting with 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani, who thwarted Williams 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (7/5).<br /><br />Bencic, the 2013 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion, now ranked 58th in the world, earned a meeting with former world number one Jelena Jankovic for a place in the quarter-finals.<br /><br />"It's incredible, amazing, I feel goofy," said Lucic-Baroni, who reached a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time since making it to the 1999 Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17-year-old.<br /><br />"After so many years, it's incredible. I live for this," she said. "I am 32. Every painful moment has been worth it."<br /><br />The last Grand Slam of the year has now lost four of it's top 10 women's seeds, after the second-round departures of Agnieszka Radwanska and Ana Ivanovic.<br /><br />Former champion and fifth seed Maria Sharapova was trying to buck the upset trend later Thursday when she took on big-hitting German Sabine Lisicki under the floodlights on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.<br /><br />Errani's triumph over 19th-seeded Williams wasn't strictly speaking an upset, but the 13th-seeded Italian had to dig deep to notch her first career victory over the American after three defeats.<br /><br />"I know that was a really tough match, even if I won the first set 6-0 she's an amazing player," Errani said.<br /><br />And as she expected, five-time Grand Slam champion Williams battled back, racing through the second set to set up a third that turned into a slugfest.<br /><br />Williams twice came back from a break down in the third, then broke Errani to serve for the match at 5-3.<br /><br />She couldn't hang on, however, surrendering her serve as they battled to the tiebreaker, in which Errani took a 5-2 lead only for Williams to battle back to 5-5 before at last succumbing. <br /><br />China's Peng Shuai, showing no sign of a let-down after her second-round win over Radwanska, dispatched another seeded player in number 28 Robert Vinci 6-4, 6-3.<br />Peng managed to keep her nerves in check to equal her best US Open showing, a a fourth-round appearance in 2011.<br /><br />"I have a lot of motivation," said Peng, who knows she has the eyes of China on her with compatriot Li Na sidelined by injury. "I wanted to fight and I really enjoyed the play."<br /><br />The highest men's seed in action, number two Roger Federer, was to resume his quest for a sixth US Open title against big-serving Australian Sam Groth on Friday night.<br /><br />The 104th-ranked Groth is averaging more than 16 aces per match this season, but in his first match against a top 10 player he'll be walking into the lion's den.<br /><br />Federer boasts a 23-1 record in night matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium court<br />Ninth-seeded Jankovic, whose only Grand Slam final appearance was a runner-up finish at Flushing Meadows in 2008, was never in danger in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Sweden's Johanna Larsson.<br /><br />The surprises on the women's side overshadowed men's second-round action.<br /><br />Fourth-seeded David Ferrer reached the third round without lifting his racquet when unpredictable Aussie Bernard Tomic withdrew with a hip injury.<br /><br />Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria continued his best-ever US Open with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Dudi Sela, improving his career record against the Israeli to 3-0.<br /><br />Croatia's 14th-seeded Marin Cilic, 18th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa, 19th seed Feliciano Lopez and 20th seed Gael Monfils all advanced on cue.</p>
<p>Defending champions Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek progressed to the men's doubles third round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows here.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Indo-Czech tennis pair needed only an hour and 23 minutes to move past Chinese Taipei-Czech combine of Yen-Hsun Lu and Jiri Vesely 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round on Court No.5.<br /><br />Both the teams broke their opponents once in the first set leading to the tie-breaker which the sixth seeds won quite easily.<br /><br />In the second set, Lu and Vesely broke Paes and Stepanek once but the defending champions broke the unseeded pair twice which proved to be the difference.<br /><br />Lu and Vesely's five double faults at crucial junctures of the match also did not help them as the number of aces, winners and unforced errors were more or less similar.<br /><br />Halep, Kerber toppled, valiant Venus falls at US Open<br /><br />The US Open women's draw was blown wide open as world number two Simona Halep, sixth seed Angelique Kerber and two-time champion Venus Williams tumbled out of the third round.<br /><br />Two players at opposite ends of the tennis age spectrum authored the upsets of the day.<br /><br />Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a former phenom now a 32-year-old veteran who had to fight through qualifying, shocked second-seeded Halep, the French Open runner-up 7-6 (8/6), 6-2.<br /><br />And 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic toppled Germany's Kerber 6-1, 7-5.<br /><br />The reward for the 121st-ranked Lucic-Baroni is a fourth-round meeting with 13th-seeded Italian Sara Errani, who thwarted Williams 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (7/5).<br /><br />Bencic, the 2013 Wimbledon and French Open junior champion, now ranked 58th in the world, earned a meeting with former world number one Jelena Jankovic for a place in the quarter-finals.<br /><br />"It's incredible, amazing, I feel goofy," said Lucic-Baroni, who reached a Grand Slam fourth round for the first time since making it to the 1999 Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17-year-old.<br /><br />"After so many years, it's incredible. I live for this," she said. "I am 32. Every painful moment has been worth it."<br /><br />The last Grand Slam of the year has now lost four of it's top 10 women's seeds, after the second-round departures of Agnieszka Radwanska and Ana Ivanovic.<br /><br />Former champion and fifth seed Maria Sharapova was trying to buck the upset trend later Thursday when she took on big-hitting German Sabine Lisicki under the floodlights on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.<br /><br />Errani's triumph over 19th-seeded Williams wasn't strictly speaking an upset, but the 13th-seeded Italian had to dig deep to notch her first career victory over the American after three defeats.<br /><br />"I know that was a really tough match, even if I won the first set 6-0 she's an amazing player," Errani said.<br /><br />And as she expected, five-time Grand Slam champion Williams battled back, racing through the second set to set up a third that turned into a slugfest.<br /><br />Williams twice came back from a break down in the third, then broke Errani to serve for the match at 5-3.<br /><br />She couldn't hang on, however, surrendering her serve as they battled to the tiebreaker, in which Errani took a 5-2 lead only for Williams to battle back to 5-5 before at last succumbing. <br /><br />China's Peng Shuai, showing no sign of a let-down after her second-round win over Radwanska, dispatched another seeded player in number 28 Robert Vinci 6-4, 6-3.<br />Peng managed to keep her nerves in check to equal her best US Open showing, a a fourth-round appearance in 2011.<br /><br />"I have a lot of motivation," said Peng, who knows she has the eyes of China on her with compatriot Li Na sidelined by injury. "I wanted to fight and I really enjoyed the play."<br /><br />The highest men's seed in action, number two Roger Federer, was to resume his quest for a sixth US Open title against big-serving Australian Sam Groth on Friday night.<br /><br />The 104th-ranked Groth is averaging more than 16 aces per match this season, but in his first match against a top 10 player he'll be walking into the lion's den.<br /><br />Federer boasts a 23-1 record in night matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium court<br />Ninth-seeded Jankovic, whose only Grand Slam final appearance was a runner-up finish at Flushing Meadows in 2008, was never in danger in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Sweden's Johanna Larsson.<br /><br />The surprises on the women's side overshadowed men's second-round action.<br /><br />Fourth-seeded David Ferrer reached the third round without lifting his racquet when unpredictable Aussie Bernard Tomic withdrew with a hip injury.<br /><br />Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria continued his best-ever US Open with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Dudi Sela, improving his career record against the Israeli to 3-0.<br /><br />Croatia's 14th-seeded Marin Cilic, 18th seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa, 19th seed Feliciano Lopez and 20th seed Gael Monfils all advanced on cue.</p>