Top men make 3rd round
NEW YORK — Sweating through a pivotal game in a match that was becoming more difficult than expected, Rafael Nadal finally broke through.
He hit his winner, pumped his fist three times and shouted "Vamos!" — Let's Go.
About an hour later, he was, indeed, safely off the court and into the third round, capping off a clean sweep for the top 16 players at the U.S. Open.
They are 32-0 through two rounds, the first time that's happened in the 41-year history of Open-era Grand Slam tennis.
The third-seeded Nadal defeated Nicolas Kiefer 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a three-hour match on an electric Friday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"A very good practice for me, no?" Nadal said. "To play in three hours is a very good test. At the same time, it's important. The first day, I didn't have any bad moment, any pressure moment. Today, I had to do more."
Didn't look like he would at first.
The first set took only 24 minutes. But Kiefer, the 129th-ranked player and the boys U.S. Open champion in 1995, won the second and matched Nadal game for game deep into the third. Nadal finally got his break to make it 5-3, which brought on his celebration.
A tougher test than expected? Yes.
A welcome test for Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with bad knees? Of course.
Impressive? Depends on who you ask.
"He was getting a little bit tired," Kiefer said. "I could see it, I could feel it. He didn't move so good. But at the end of the day, it doesn't count if you play good or bad. A win is a win, a loss is a loss."
On the women's side, the Williams sisters both advanced in straight sets, as did Kim Clijsters, who set up a fourth-round match with No. 3 Venus Williams. Clijsters took two years off and has played so little tennis since she came back, she's not even ranked. She looked good Friday against Kirsten Flipkens in a 6-0, 6-2 victory. Venus, still wearing heavy tape on her left knee, had to work hard for a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova.
The top men continue to separate themselves from the rest this year.
"The best players are winning and they don't have any strange losses," Nadal said. "I think that's good for tennis."
Nadal and No. 2 Andy Murray, who defeated Paul Capdeville of Chile 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 on Friday, are the only two players in the top 10 to have dropped as much as a set over their first two rounds at Flushing Meadows.
The dominance at the top didn't mean there weren't competitive matches on the grounds. American Taylor Dent put on a stirring show in a five-set, 4-hour victory over Ivan Navarro of Spain, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9).
Dent grabbed the umpire's microphone after the match and thanked the crowd. His inspirational comeback story — he nearly saw his career ended by a back injury — hits a likely roadblock when he meets Murray in the third round.
On Saturday, 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin, who faces 29th-seeded Maria Sharapova, playing well in her return to the U.S. Open after missing last year with an injured shoulder.
