Five-time champion Roger Federer strolled into the US Open third round as fellow old-timer Lleyton Hewitt bid farewell in trademark, fighting style.
On a dramatic day which saw Grand Slam high for retirements from the men’s tournament, Andy Murray escaped his earliest exit in 10 years when he came back from two sets down to make the last 32.
In the women’s section, Caroline Wozniacki, seeded four, became the highest seed to fall in the upset-filled women's draw when Czech Petra Cetkovska stunned the Dane 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(1).
Grand Slam champion, needed just 80 minutes to rout Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
The 34-year-old Swiss star, goes on to face German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber. Federer has lost just nine games in the first two rounds, his fewest in 16 appearances.
Murray struggles
Third seed and 2012 champion Murray came back from two sets down to defeat tiring Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
Murray goes on to face Brazilian 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci for a place in the last 16.
“It was extremely tough. He hits the ball really flat, has fantastic timing on both sides and it was hard to read the ball in the first two sets,” said 28-year-old Murray.
Murray, who had needed four sets to beat Nick Kyrgios in the opening round, fired 21 aces — the last of which was on match point — while Mannarino was undone by 61 unforced errors.
Former world number one Hewitt, the champion in 2001, made a dramatic farewell battling from two sets down and having two match points before losing to fellow Australian Bernard Tomic on a rocking Grandstand court.
In his final match in New York, the 34-year-old fell 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 after three hours and 27 minutes after his 57th career five-set match.
Wozniacki falls short
With Wozniacki bowing out in the womne’s section, it left only three of the top 10 seeds still alive in the year's final grand slam — number one Serena Williams, who is seeking the fourth women’s calendar-year Grand Slam, second seed Simona Halep and fifth seed Petra Kvitova.
Cetkovska, who has tumbled to a 149th ranking after missing seven months with a hip injury before returning in March, was playing in the Open thanks to a special injury exemption.
She rode a powerful forehand that produced 29 of her 61 winners to victory over Wozniacki, saving four match points held by the Dane — all on winners off her racquet.
"I said it's now or never, so I just went for it," she said in an on-court interview about her string of match point saves. "It's just amazing."
"So happy to be able to be back and to compete," said the 30-year-old Cetkovska, who will play Italy's Flavia Pennetta, a straight sets winner over Romanian Monica Niculescu.
Wozniacki, a two-times US Open finalist, won the first three games and led 4-2 before Cetkovska ran off seven games in a row to win the set, and took a 4-1 lead before the Dane won six of the next seven games to force a third set.
Fifth-seeded Swiss Wawrinka outslugged promising South Korean teenager Chung Hyeon, but still needed three tiebreaks to sweat out a 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 7-6(6) second round decision.
On Friday in the third round, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga knocked out Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to advance.
Men (prefix denotes seeding): Third round: Benoit Paire (Fra) bt 26-Tommy Robredo (Esp) 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-1. Second round: 5-Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Hyeon Chung (Kor) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6), Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) bt 28-Jack Sock (US) 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 2-1-retired, 22-Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Rajeev Ram (US) 7-6 (12/10), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, Donald Young (US) bt Aljaz Bedene (Gbr) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, 15-Kevin Anderson (Rsa) bt Austin Krajicek (US) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, 20-Dominic Thiem (Aut) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-4, 6-4, 1-0-retired, 3-Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1, 6-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-6 (7/2), 6-1, 6-3, 31-Guillermo García-López (Esp) bt Nicolas Mahut (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 24-Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, 12-Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Robin Haase (Ned) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 13-John Isner (US) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, Jirí Veselý (Cze) bt 21-Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 29-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Lukás Rosol (Cze) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-2, 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Steve Darcis (Bel) 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
Women: Third round: 13-Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt 17-Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 6-3, 7-5; Kristina Mladenovic (Fra) bt Darya Kasatkina (Rus) 6-2, 6-3.
Second round: 5-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Nicole Gibbs (US) 6-3, 6-4, 30-Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Svk) bt Danka Kovinic (Mne) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 18-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 26-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Monica Niculescu (Rom) 6-1, 6-4, Petra Cetkovska (Cze) bt 4-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/1), Mona Barthel (Ger) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, Barbora Strycova (Cze) bt Qiang Wang (Chn) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 24-Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt Camila Giorgi (Ita) 6-4, 6-0, Shelby Rogers (US) bt Kurumi Nara (Jpn) 6-4, 6-4.
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