Djokovic, Nishikori, Murray advance to U.S. Open 3rd round
Tenth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday when Pablo Andujar retired with an injury.
Nishikori was leading 6-4, 6-1 when the 48th-ranked Andujar suddenly came to the net. Tournament officials did not immediately detail the nature of the Spaniard's injury.
''It's unfortunate for Pablo today, but I have been playing well ... had good two sets,'' Nishikori said.
The 24-year-old Nishikori, who has never made it past the fourth round in five previous U.S. Open appearances, has been battling an injury of his own in recent weeks. A severely infected right big toe forced him to miss tuneup events leading up to Flushing Meadows.
Nishikori next faces the winner of 23rd-seeded Leonardo Mayer and Matthew Ebden.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic won in straight sets and No. 9 Jo-Willfried Tsonga, advanced easily.
Djokovic danced for the fans, doing a sort of salsa to Iggy Azalea's summer hit "Fancy," after his 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, rout of Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Djokovic next faces American Sam Querrey, who downed 28th-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets.
Cramp-free on a cool summer's night, Andy Murray moved easily into the third round owith a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Matthias Bachinger.
The eighth-seeded Murray, who battled cramps in his hamstring, shoulder and arm during a four-set win over Robin Haase in the heat of the day Monday, showed no such trouble on a crisp, 75-degree night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, has not reached a final since winning Wimbledon in 2013. He next faces Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia.
The only seeded American, No. 13 John Isner, slammed 30 aces and 54 winners in a straight-set victory over German Jan-Lennard Struff.
American Sam Querrey downed 28th-seeded Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets and two seeded players, No. 10 Kei Nishikori and No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber, advanced to the third round when their opponents retired because of injury. No. 9 Jo-Willfried Tsonga also advanced in straight sets.
