Sapa-AFP

Rafael Nadal rolled into the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships while Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori pulled off the biggest upset on a night of shocks that saw three top men ousted.

Nadal raised his game when challenged, winning his final 11 games to answer a fightback and defeat 71st-ranked Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-3 6-0 for his 41st triumph in 42 starts. Olympic champion Nadal was down a break in the second set until he blasted a running forehand winner past Troicki to level at 3-3. He never lost another game. Nishikori stunned fourth seed David Ferrer 6-4 6-4 3-6 2-6 7-5 to become the first Japanese man into the fourth round of a US Open. At 18, Nishikori is the youngest man in the US Open round of 16 since Marat Safin in 1998. Ferrer was joined on the seeded scrapheap by seventh seed David Nalbandian, who lost to Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4 6-2, and ninth seed James Blake, who fell to compatriot Mardy Fish 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7/4). Sixth seed Andy Murray barely avoided the victims’ list, rallying to defeat Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (5/7) 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 6-3 and book a date with 10th seed Stanislas Wawrinka. On the women’s side, seventh seed Venus Williams and fourth-seeded sister Serena cruised in third-round matches, moving them one step closer to a quarterfinal showdown. Seven-time slam champion Venus Williams advanced by beating Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-1 in 56 minutes. Next up is ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who beat Williams in 2006 at Luxembourg in their only prior meeting. Eight-time slam champion Serena Williams beat Ai Sugiyama 6-2 6-1 and will next face wild card entrant Severine Bremond, who outlasted Tathiana Garbin 7-5 3-6 6-4. Sixth seed Dinara Safina beat teenager Timea Bacsinszky 3-6 7-5 6-2 and will next face Anna-Lena Groenefeld, the first woman qualifier since Anna Kournikova in 1996 to reach the US Open’s fourth round.

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