US Open Play Gets Going With Eyes On Hurricane
NEW YORK (AP) — Samantha Stosur defeated Sara Errani, Elena Dementieva eliminated Daniela Hantuchova — and both beat Hurricane Earl with quick victories Friday at the U.S. Open.
Eyes were on Kim Clijsters, Andy Murray and the weather radar as play began under gray skies. The forecast from the tournament's meteorologist called for intermittent showers. Officials planned to try to get in the full schedule of matches.
The main concern went from heat to rain in a matter of hours. Defending champion Clijsters, the second-seeded woman, and the fourth-seeded Murray were to play at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday afternoon. Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal were to play the night matches.
Stosur, the French Open runner-up, extended her longest run at the Open, beating Errani 6-2, 6-3 in the third round.
The fifth-seeded Australian had never gotten past the second round at Flushing Meadows in six previous tries. But the 26-year-old is in the midst of a career year and has reached the quarterfinals or better in nine of her last 10 events.
Stosur beat the 37th-ranked Errani for the second time in just more than a week. She needed a third-set tiebreaker to defeat the Italian in New Haven, Connecticut.
Stosur nearly lost in the first round at the U.S. Open, dropping the opening set then going to a tiebreaker in the second. But she has cruised since and had seven aces and 37 winners Friday.
The 12th-seeded Dementieva beat the 24th-seeded Hantuchova 7-5, 6-2. Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, has reached the semifinals three times but lost in the second round last year. The Russian missed Wimbledon with a left calf injury and has fallen out of the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in more than three years.
Hantuchova has not beaten Dementieva since 2005, not including retirements. The Slovakian reached the fourth round at the U.S. Open last year.
Dementieva converted all six break points Friday. Hantuchova was just 3 of 9.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
