Novak Djokovic eases into round four

Defending champion Novak Djokovic continued his ruthless progress at the US Open with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 third-round win over Julien Benneteau of France.

The Serbian has won all three of his matches in straight sets.

He said: "Usually I don't like to play the first matches but it was important for me to start off very strong and I played really well."

Number four seed David Ferrer went through with a 7-6 (11-9) 4-6 6-3 6-0 win over Lleyton Hewitt.

Benneteau, the 31st seed, almost beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon this year but he could do nothing to threaten Djokovic.

The Frenchman could not live with Djokovic's power and precision from the back of the court and time and again found himself out-rallied, with the second seed winning in an hour and 37 minutes.

Djokovic will face Swiss number 18 seed Stanislas Wawrinka or 14th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the fourth round.

Hewitt, the 2001 US Open champion, had five set points in the first set against Ferrer, but couldn't take them and lost it 11-9 in a tie-break.

The Australian came back to win the second set, but eventually ran out of steam.

Andy Roddick's bid for a memorable end to his career continues on Sunday night.

The 2003 champion, who is retiring from tennis at the end of the tournament, is up against Italy's Fabio Fognini at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Roddick's fellow Americans John Isner and Steve Johnson are also in action.

-  BBC.co.uk