U.S. Open Day 3 after dark: Djokovic cruises to victory, Venus advances

US Open Day 3 Night session: Venus Williams and Belinda Bencic wins, Grigor Dimitrov loses.

Stanley Kay | Sep 2, 2015

U.S. Open Day 3 after dark: Djokovic cruises to victory, Venus advances /

NEW YORK — Venus Williams opened up the night on Arthur Ashe with a victory. Check out the Day 3 day session recap here, and catch up with news and results from Day 3 after 7 p.m. at the U.S. Open below.

Novak Djokovic rolls in Day 3’s finale: It wasn’t as easy as his opening round match, but Novak Djokovic advanced to the third round in the second act of Wednesday’s Arthur Ashe night session with a 6–4, 6–1, 6–2 win over Andreas Haider-Maurer. After Haider-Maurer kept it close in the first set, Djokovic cruised to victory. The Serb dominated on his serve, winning 83% of first serve points and 77% of second serve points while denying Haider-Maurer a single break opportunity. Djokovic will meet No. 25 Andreas Seppi in the next round.

It wasn’t easy, but Venus Williams advanced: No. 23 Venus Williams cruised in her first set against Irina Falconi, winning 6–3, but she faltered on a chance to close out the match in straight sets. Serving for the match, Falconi broke Venus to force a tiebreaker, which Falconi won 7–2. But Williams rebounded and dominated the third set 6–2. The victory sets the elder Williams sister up for a third-round meeting with 18-year-old Belinda Bencic and leaves open the possibility of a fourth round matchup with sister Serena.

• WERTHEIM: Five Day 3 thoughts: Bouchard shows promise, Serena tested

Bencic juggles, smashes, screams and...survives: Poor MisakiDoi. After winning the first set 7–5, Doi had three match points in the second set but failed to put Bencic away. The 18-year-old won a second-set tiebreaker 7–3 and carried her momentum into the final set, which she won 6-3. While the match didn’t go as smoothly as Bencic probably hoped, her resolve under tough conditions was on full display. So were her emotions.

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Mikhail Kukushkin blows two-set lead, but upsets Grigor Dimitrov: Kukushkin won the first two sets against No. 17 Dimitrov 6–3, 7–6(2), but Dimitrov fought back and won the next two sets 6–2, 6–4. But Kukushkin recovered and sealed the upset by winning the fifth set 6-4. Kukushkin advances to the third round of the U.S. Open for the second time of his career. He’ll face defending champion Marin Cilic in the third round.

The Bryan brothers fall at the hands of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey: Bob and Mike Bryan have won four of the last seven men’s doubles championships, but surprisingly they’ve never won back-to-back titles. That trend will continue this year, as the top-seeded Bryans were upset in the first round by fellow Americans Johnson and Querrey. After Johnson and Querrey took the first set 7–6(4), the Bryan brothers avoided a straight-sets defeat by winning the second set 7-5, saving four match points along the way. But Querrey and Johnson rebounded and won the third set 6-3. Both Johnson and Querrey lost in the opening round of the men’s singles draw. It’s the first time since 2004 that the Bryan brothers have failed to win a Grand Slam.

Vine of the Night

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Tweet of the Night

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More notable results: Tommy Robredo d. Sam Groth 6–4, 7–6(3), 6–4; Sergiy Stakhovsky d. Illya Marchenko 6–4, 7–6(2), 4–6, 6–4; Andreas Seppi d. Teymuraz Gabashvili 3–6, 6–3, 7–6 (3), 6–1