Serena avenges loss to Makarova

NEW YORK (AP):

Serena Williams didn't watch any video of her Australian Open loss to Ekaterina Makarova as she prepared for their rematch at the United States (US) Open.

She even hates looking at photos from defeats. But she is free to check out this match again after she won in straight sets in the third round yesterday.

Back when she used to relive those losses on tape, Williams said: "It was like stabbing myself."

No such pain so far at this year's US Open. The fourth-seeded American won 6-4, 6-0, avenging her straight-set defeat in the Australian Open's fourth round.

The 42nd-ranked Makarova fell to 1-14 against top-five players.

When they played in January, Williams had seven double-faults and 37 unforced errors. The numbers yesterday were one and 16.

Top-ranked Roger Federer and third-seeded Andy Murray advanced to the fourth round on the men's side. Federer had a much easier time, beating 25th-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Murray was helped by some mistakes in the three tiebreakers by Feliciano Lopez to win 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6) in nearly four hours.

Agnieszka Radwanska, in her own words, survived her match. On a steamy day at Flushing Meadows, the second-seeded Pole was relieved to beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets - and even that 6-3, 7-5 victory took one hour, 38 minutes.

"I was feeling like I was melting there," Radwanska said. "I survived the match. In the second set, I was just better for a couple of points."

Her next opponent is 20th-seeded Roberta Vinci, who beat No. 13 seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5.

Nicolas Almagro, seeded 11th on the men's side, beat American teenager Jack Sock 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-1 to reach the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

Martin Klizan, who upset fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round, extended his best Grand Slam run by beating 32nd-seeded Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. He next faces 12th-seeded Marin Cilic, who defeated 17th-seeded Kei Nishikori in four sets.