S Africa beat Zimbabwe despite Utseya hat-trick 44 SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014 SATURDAY, SportsSports NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, returns a shot to Paul-Henri Mathieu, of France, during the second round of the 2014 US Open tennis tournament, Thursday, in New York. — AP Djokovic, Serena, Murray sail through NEW YORK: Novak Djokovic reached the third round of a World number one Williams, chasing a third successive with a 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over German qualifi- Grand Slam for the 25th consecutive time while Serena New York title, her sixth in total and an 18th major, sent 25 er Peter Gojowczyk on the back of 26 aces and 64 winners. Williams racked up her 80th US Open win as the top seeds winners past Vania King and broke serve six times, wrap- eased into the third round on Thursday. ping up a 6-1, 6-0 victory on windswept Arthur Ashe Ivanovic, Stosur beaten They were joined in the last 32 by 2012 winner Andy Stadium in just 56 minutes. Eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic suffered her earliest US Murray and reigning Wimbledon women’s champion Petra It was her second win over an American at the tourna- Open exit in five years when the former world number one Kvitova. ment this week after beating teenager Taylor Townsend lost 7-5, 6-4 to Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, the But former world number one Ana Ivanovic, the eighth and next she will face another in Varvara Lepchenko for a world number 42. seed, and 2011 champion Samantha Stosur were knocked place in the last 16. The Serb followed fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska out on a day when stiff winds brought new challenges at “It’s so hard to play in the wind but I am happy to get out of the tournament after the Pole had been beaten by Flushing Meadows for players already tackling plus-30 through a solid match with the conditions today,” said the Peng Shuai 24 hours earlier. degree heat (+90F). top seed whose colourful leopard print dress was as strik- The former French Open champion was undone by 29 World number one and top seed Djokovic breezed past ing as her tennis. unforced errors. France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, firing 13 aces and “It wasn’t easy, but you have to be able to adjust. I had “It’s very disappointing. It’s never easy to finish this ear- 33 winners as the 2011 champion comfortably remained fun out here, I enjoy playing out on Arthur Ashe court.” ly,” said on course for a fifth successive final appearance. Eighth-seeded Murray brushed aside 27-year-old Ivanovic. “I’m definitely going to assess what went “It’s very windy, but I managed to adjust to the condi- German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, the world number wrong and what I can work on. I really felt it wasn’t my tions that obviously are not easy for myself and my oppo- 235, with a convincing 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win. game out there today.” nent,” said Djokovic, who next meets Sam Querrey of the Murray exhibited none of the physical problems he suf- Stosur, the 24th seed, squandered two match points in United States, after his brief 90-minute appearance. fered in the first round when he was cramping, sending a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) defeat to Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi, a six- “I managed to play better in the important moments, down 36 winners past Bachinger, a contemporary from his time Grand Slam quarter-finalist. play solid, use my serve efficiently-with accuracy rather junior days. There were no such dramas for Kvitova who defeated than speed.” Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic made the third round fellow Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 6-2. — AFP.