US Open in Balls TV
Sept. 4-11 – 11 p.m. (Live)
Sept. 4-12 – Center Court – 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Replays – 1 p.m. (Daily)

NEW YORK (AFP) — Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the third round of the US Open on Thursday while Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling showed why they are title contenders as well.

Swiss second seed Federer, seeking his 17th Grand Slam crown and a seventh consecutive trip to the US Open final, beat Germany's 104th-ranked Andreas Beck, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, in one hour and 41 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Five-time US Open champion Federer will face 109th-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu to decide a fourth-round berth on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.

“It's the perfect start,” Federer said. “Body is well. Mentally obviously I'm fresh, too. I haven't played too much, so I'm really eager. I'm ready for tough matches coming around. It's good I'm saving myself, really, and my game is fine.”

Danish women's top seed Wozniacki blanked Taiwan's Chang Kai-Chen, 6-0, 6-0, in 47 minutes, her 11th match victory in a row after titles at Montreal and New Haven leading into the Open. She has dropped only two games in two matches.

Russian beauty Sharapova routed Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2, moving closer to a fourth-round showdown with Wozniacki. The 2006 US Open winner struggled with injuries last year but is back on form now.

Serbian third seed Djokovic advanced, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), over German Philipp Petzschner, saying, “I was shakey the whole match but I was able to hold on.”

Djokovic reached the 2007 US Open final and the Flushing Meadows semifinals the past two years, each time losing to Federer, whom he could again face in the semi-finals.

Swedish fifth seed Soderling downed American Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. The French Open runner-up meets Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker next.

Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a 2006 and 2007 US Open semi-final loser to Federer, was ousted 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by 38th-ranked Richard Gasquet in the biggest upset of the day.