Some of the top-ranked men at this year’s U.S Open progressed to the next round on day three of the tournament at Flushing Meadows, let’s take a look at how they did it.

Tomas Berdych was left without a match on the first two days of the event, and finally got on court to play Lleyton Hewitt on day three. Berdych came in on a poor run of form, with a 2-3 record on the North American hard court swing, and was facing the lion-hearted Australian, Hewitt. Hewitt reached the fourth round in New York last year, defeating Juan Martin Del Potro along the way, and would not be an easy beat.

The Czech made it look so, dispatching of the former world number one in 2 hours 20 minutes, 6-3 6-4 6-3. He took the first set off a single break, but it was hard fought. Hewitt came back from 0-40 down, saving a further two break points when advantage down, but it was sixth time lucky for Berdych, who got the break and never let it go, holding until the end of the set. He fell behind early in the second set, dropping serve in the second game. Hewitt got 4-1 ahead, before Berdych switched back on, winning five straight games to take the set. The sixth seed made it six straight games as he broke and held to start the third set, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. As he always does, Hewitt dug deep, breaking his opponent to even it up at 3-3, but he wouldn’t win another game, dropping his serve twice more to hand Berdych the match.

Ernests Gulbis was another big man looking to bounce back from a sub-par hard court swing, as he took on Kenny de Schepper. Since reaching the semis at the French Open, Gulbis had lost in the second round of four consecutive tournaments, including a 6-7(3) 5-7 loss to de Schepper at Queen’s Club. The Latvian showed good signs in his match, having no trouble taming the big Frenchman’s serve as he got a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win in just 1 hour 35 minutes. He broke de Schepper six times, dropping his own serve only once. Gulbis will be happy with his performance, and now moves onto the second round to play Dominic Thiem, of Austria.

Stan Wawrinka didn’t get onto court until about 10pm New York time, for his second round match against Thomaz Bellucci. He was coming off a straight sets win over Jiri Vesely, while Bellucci got his first round win over Nicolas Mahut. Both players came out of the blocks breathing fire, with strong groundstrokes the main attraction. Wawrinka’s serve was near untouchable, and when he broke the Brazilian’s serve for 4-2, it was set over, with the Swiss dropping only five points on serve for the set and going ahead 6-3. He continued rolling in the second, breaking Bellucci straight away and almost making it a double break, with the lefty forced to save a break point at *0-2. Despite his best efforts, the Wawrinka serve was untameable, with just three points dropped on it as the set finished 6-4 in favour of the third seed.

The third set saw a change in the script, with a poor game from Wawrinka handing Bellucci the break and a 4-1 lead. The Brazilian capitalised, breaking again with some strong forehands and found himself serving for it at 5-1. The task of serving out a set against a Grand Slam champion proved difficult, and Wawrinka was able to break and hold, putting the pressure squarely on Bellucci’s shoulders. To his credit, Bellucci was able to save a break point and win the set 6-3, pushing the match beyond midnight, and into a fourth set.

He kept up his momentum, getting an early break and reaching a 3-1 lead. A fifth set looked a genuine possibility as Wawrinka’s lapse of concentration was costing him. The Brazilian had confidence and was hitting the ball well. It’s hard to keep a champion down however, and Wawrinka got the break back, edging ahead 4-3. Bellucci had a test of his nerves at 4-5, when he was forced to save two match points, and he did, with the set entering a tiebreak. It was Wawrinka who found another gear, going ahead 5-0 and never looking back, winning the match 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(1), to move onto the third round.

Day four approaches, and the men’s side of the draw is devoid of a major upset, with all of the top 16 seeds remaining. We look forward to more high quality, Grand Slam tennis.