World No. 1 women's tennis player Justin Henin of Belgium has reached the third round of the U.S. Open in New York. Henin got stronger as her match went on, defeating Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-4, 6-0.
American Venus Williams, a two-time winner of this Grand Slam event, won in straight sets over Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-4, 6-2. Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Aravane Rezai of France, 6-3, 6-1, and could face Williams in the fourth round.
In the third round, the Serbian will play Vera Dushevina who upended fellow-Russian Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-4, 6-3. Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-2, 6-2. Marion Bartoli of France, seeded 10th, was a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Italian Sara Errani.
Highlighting men's play Wednesday, second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Australian Alun Jones, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. No. 8 Spaniard Tommy Robredo ousted American Bobby Reynolds, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.
Former champion Marat Safin of Russia prevailed in two hard-fought tiebreakers to defeat Canada's Frank Dancevic, 7-5, 7-6, 7-6. Safin's compatriot, 11th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, easily beat Nicolas Devilder of France, 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. American Robby Ginepri was victorious over Belgian Olivier Rochus, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1.