Nadal, Querrey to meet in fourth round of U.S. Open; Fish ousts Blake

NEW YORK -- Rafael Nadal cruised through his match, and watched three other U.S. Open title challengers fail Saturday, to take a big stride toward a third straight grand slam crown.

The Spanish world's No. 1 trounced Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadow.

Nadal's easy progress was made more important by the failure of other top-10 players. Fourth-seeded David Ferrer was beaten 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5 by Japan's Kei Nishikori, Argentine No. 7 David Nalbandian was swept aside 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by France's Gael Monfils, while American No. 9 James Blake was beaten in straight sets by his close friend and compatriot Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Andy Murray looked like becoming another high-profile casualty, but the Scottish No. 6 dug deep to beat Austria's Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-4. Swiss No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka also came from two sets down to win, defeating Italy's Flavio Cipolla 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.

The women's draw was more predictable. The Williams sisters won through to the fourth round with identical 6-2, 6-1 scorelines. Fourth-seeded Serena was too good for Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama while Venus eased past No. 27 Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.

The ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanksa was similarly untroubled in cruising past No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova 6-0, 6-3, but Dinara Safina was forced to work harder for her fourth-round berth, as the Russian No. 6 struggled past unseeded Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Nadal's next opponent will be unseeded American Sam Querrey, who won a battle of the big servers to beat Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2.

"I managed to catch a bit of his match," Nadal said. "He has improved a lot, and he has that powerful serve."

The 20-year-old Querrey made it through to the fourth round of a grand slam tournament for the first time.

"It's great that it's the U.S. Open," Querrey said. "It's the one that, you know, if I had to pick one to win, it would be this one."

The 18-year-old Nishikori made not only personal but national history when he upset Ferrer. He is the first Japanese to reach the U.S. Open fourth round in the Open era.

Nishikori overcame cramps to break Ferrer in the final game, converting his third match point with a forehand winner down the line, then dropping his racket and flopping onto his back.

"I still can't believe it. I was playing great and he was playing great, too," Nishikori said. "Biggest win for me."