Safin slays Nalbandian after tough fight

Flushing Meadows, Sept 04: 15th seed Lleyton Hewitt wasted little time in despatching Serbia's 20th seed Novak Djokovic. The Australian, champion at Flushing Meadows in 2001, took an hour and a half to win 6-3 6-1 6-2.

In a delayed second round match, fourth seed David Nalbandian crashed out to 2001 champion Marat Safin in a marathon battle.

The Argentine saved two match points but Safin clinched a was sent packing from the U.S. Open at the second-round stage on Sunday, beaten 6-3 7-5 2-6 3-6 7-6 by victory when Nalbandian netted a drop shot after three hours 52 minutes.

French 25th seed Richard Gasquet booked a fourth round meeting with Hewitt after he overcame the stubborn challenge of Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 in two hours 53 minutes.

British teenager Andy Murray upset 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-2 to reach the fourth round for the first time.

The 17th seed looked in trouble when he trailed by two sets to one, but the 19-year-old roared back to clinch his first ever five-set victory and a place in the last 16.

Second seed Rafael Nadal edged out big-serving South African Weslie Moodie 6-4 7-6 7-6.

The Spaniard was pushed hard by the world number 82, but finally clinched victory after two hours 49 minutes to set up a fourth-round win clash against Czech Jiri Novak.

Andy Roddick booked his place in the fourth round with a hard-fought 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-2 victory over big-hitting Fernando Verdasco of Spain and will next meet Becker for a place in the quarter-finals.

Russia's seven seed Nikolay Davydenko set up a last 16 meeting with Murray after a straight forward 6-4 6-1 6-1 victory over Lukasz Kubot of Poland.

Bureau Report