Serena into Open's last 16

New York - Top-ranked defending champion Serena Williams advanced to the fourth round of the US Open early Saturday morning with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over 78th-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

The 74-minute victory sends Williams into a showdown against US 15th seed Sloane Stephens, who upset the 16-time Grand Slam champion in the Australian Open quarter-finals last January.

US Open results on Friday (x denotes seeded player):

Men's singles

2nd rd

Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2

Joao Sousa (POR) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Tim Smyczek (USA) bt Alex Bogomolov (RUS) 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Marcel Granollers (ESP) bt Rajeev Ram (USA) 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5

Tommy Haas (GER x12) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x21) bt Aleksandr Dolgopolov (UKR) 7-5, 6-1, 6-3

Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) bt Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3

Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) bt Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1

Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1

Florian Mayer (GER) bt Donald Young (USA) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4

Andreas Seppi (ITA x20) bt Somdev Devvarman (IND) 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, 7-5

Denis Istomin (UZB) bt Tobias Kamke (GER) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2

Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA x17) 6-2, 6-2, 6-2

Julien Benneteau (FRA x31) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

Tomas Berdych (CZE x5) bt Denis Kudla (USA) 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3

Women

3rd rd

Serena Williams (USA) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 6-3, 6-1

Sloane Stephens (USA x15) bt Jamie Hampton (USA x23) 6-1, 6-3

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x18) bt Zheng Jie (CHN) 6-2, 6-4

Angelique Kerber (GER x8) bt Kaia Kanepi (EST x25) 6-0, 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x3) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x32) 6-4, 7-6 (7/1)

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x24) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER x16) 6-4, 7-5

Jelena Jankovic (SRB x9) bt Kurumi Nara (JPN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)

Li Na (CHN x5) bt Laura Robson (GBR x30) 6-2, 7-5