Federer, Djokivic fight through; Roddick dumped in New York (Roundup)

NEW YORK - Roger Federer and Novak Dkjokovic overcame niggles to advance while fifth seed Andy Roddick fell to a defeat against a rising American to exit the US Open in a third-round heartbreak loss Saturday.

Top seed Federer recovered from a stuttering start to beat Lleyton Hewitt for the 14th time in succession, posting a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win.

Djokovic, losing 2007 finalist to the Swiss and the fourth seed, battled to overcome American qualifier Jesse Witten 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

But Roddick, three times a losing Wimbledon finalist against Federer, was ambushed by countryman John Isner 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) to remain without a Grand Slam title since New York, 2003.

“It was a tough one to lose,” confessed Roddick, who made a comeback stand after trailing two sets to love.

“He was rolling the dice, that’s the way he’s most effective. That’s the way he’s going to make guys uncomfortable,” Roddick said of Isner, who served 38 aces to 20 for the seed

“Sitting back and just rallying, that’s not going to work much for him. He’s got to come out, make guys uncomfortable and just take people completely out of their rhythm.

“Being as big as he is (2.05 metres), he’s certainly capable of doing that.”

Federer, aiming for a record sixth straight title at the event, had to struggle to maintain his grip on Hewitt, the 2001 Flushing Meadows champion.

“I was very happy, because I knew that being down a set against Lleyton is always going to be a difficult situation for me to be in,” said Federer. “Make one more mistake and I’m in the fifth set maybe, or I go down completely. So I was relieved coming through.”

Added Hewitt, who has not beaten Federer since 2003: “I was pretty happy the way I played today. Against Roger, you can’t really play the style of tennis that you want to play out there. That’s the hard thing.”

Djokovic came through a match containing 15 breaks of serve, taking nearly three and a half hours to advance into the second week over journeyman Witten, who returns to the Challenger circuit next week in Oklahoma after his brush with glory.

“Those (tough) matches have to appear sometime during the tournament,” said Djokovic. “Maybe the good thing is that I have played this match in the third round. I have high ambitions for this tournament.”

Russian eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko put out Federer’s good friend Marco Chiudinelli 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 while Spain’s tenth seed Fernando Verdasco stopped German Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 6-4.

French Open finalist Robin Soderling, seeded 12th, beat American Sam Querrey 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1.

In women’s play, Nadia Petrova will face off in the fourth round against American surprise packet Melanie Oudin, who stunned 2006 champion Maria Sharapova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The Russian three-time Grand Slam winner took treatment on her upper arm in the third set and was plagued by a demoralising 21 double-faults.

Oudin, 17, has duplicated her Wimbledon round of 16 showings and was in complete shock after adding the Russian to a hit list that began with fourth seed Elena Dementieva.

“I fought as hard as I could, I just can’t believe this. I’ve always been so competitive. I really have belief. I got lucky in the third set as Maria double-faulted. But I was putting pressure on her second serve.”

There were wins into the fourth round for sixth seed and 2004 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-1 and Caroline Wozniacki, the number nine Dane who put out Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2.