US Open 2014: Sharapova & Federer through on day of upsets

Roger Federer last won the US Open in 2008

Former US Open champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova enjoyed straight sets wins at Flushing Meadows on a day that brought some notable exits.

Swiss second seed Federer beat Australia's Sam Groth 6-4 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round,

Russia's fifth seed Sharapova also progressed, reaching the fourth round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Sabine Lisicki.

Two-time champion Venus Williams and second seed Simona Halep were knocked out in their third round matches.

Home favourite Venus Williams lost 6-0 0-6 7-6 (7-5) to Italy's Sara Errani.

Errani will play Mirjana Lucic-Baroni next after the Croatian qualifier beat Romania's Halep 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.

Germany's sixth seed Angelique Kerber was also beaten 6-1 7-5 by Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.

Federer, a five-time US Open champion, will play Spain's Marcel Granollers in the third round, while 2006 champion Sharapova faces Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.

Having twice come back from being down a break in the third set, Williams had a chance to serve out the match.

But Errani, who had not won more than three games in a set against Williams in three previous meetings, showed great fighting spirit to force a tie-break.

Lucic-Baroni lost to Steffi Graf in the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1999 before her career was derailed

Ultimately Williams was undone by too many unforced errors - she had 52 in all - although with seeds tumbling all around her, Errani will like her chances of going far in the tournament.

Lucic-Baroni, 32, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 but had not reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament since.

Off-court problems derailed her career but she returned to the Grand Slam stage in 2010 after a gap of eight years and beat future Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli at SW12 in 2012.

Arthur Ashe stadium

Jelena Jankovic (Ser) (9) beat Johanna Larsson (Swe) 6-1 6-0

"I feel hungry, I want to do well again," said Jankovic, a former world number one who reached the US Open final in 2008.

Jankovic plays Belinda Bencic, who ousted sixth seed Angelique Kerber, in the fourth round

"I love playing in the US Open. I had a lot of deep rounds here. It's my favourite Grand Slam."

Sara Errani (Ita) (13) beat Venus Williams (US) (19) 6-0 0-6 7-6 (7-5)

"I've never heard the crowd that strong, I was shaking," said 27-year-old Errani, who put her finger to her lips after her victory as if to silence the crowd.

"It was unbelievably good. I will remember forever that moment. I don't know why I did that. I was not angry. It was the adrenaline in my body."

David Ferrer (Spa) (4) beat Bernard Tomic (Aus) walkover

"I can't afford to get on court and play against David and cause much more pain to myself," said world number 67 Tomic, who had surgery on both hips in January.

"I can potentially make it 10 times worse. It's a very difficult decision for me, but I have to do this."

Tomas Berdych (Cze) (6) beat Martin Klizan (Svk) 6-3 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-3

"It's a good challenge. The conditions were tough again," said Berdych, 28, who avoided becoming the first top-10 seed to go out of the men's tournament.

"You go from day till early evening. You start with the sun, then you end up with the lights. It was quite windy, as well. He played good, so I'm happy to have that on my belt, to win another five-setter, and just go forward."

Roger Federer (Sui) (2) beat Sam Groth (Aus) 6-4 6-4 6-4

Federer won five consecutive US Opens between 2004 to 2008

"I thought I did pretty well from the start, I created quite a few opportunities. I'm really happy how I played on the return," said Federer.

"I could maybe have done a bit better on my serve but I thought it was an exciting match. I thought Sam played well and it was tough until the end. He's got unbelievable power. My arm's still shaking a little bit."

Maria Sharapova (Rus) (5) beat Sabine Lisicki (Ger) 6-2 6-4

"She was a really tough opponent, a very aggressive big server. I just tried to concentrate on my return," said Sharapova.

"I wasn't serving as well as I wanted to. In the end it was a few points. I was happy I was able to break her."

Louis Armstrong stadium

Shuai Peng (Chn) beat Roberta Vinci (Ita) (28) 6-4 6-3

Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) (7) beat Dudi Sela (Isr) 6-1 6-1 6-2

Lucie Safarova (Cze) (14) beat Alize Cornet (Fra) (22) 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-4

Grandstand

Gael Monfils (Fra) (20) beat Alejandro Gonzalez (Col) 7-5 6-3 6-2

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro) beat Simona Halep (Rom) (2) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2

"After so many years, to be here again, it's incredible," said Lucic-Baroni, who contested only two professional matches between 2004 and 2006.

"I wanted this so bad. So many times I would get to a place where I thought I could do it. Then I wanted it so bad that I kind of burned out. I'm so happy."

Caroline Wozniacki (Den) (10) beat Andrea Petkovic (Ger) (18) 6-3 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki took just 1 hour 19 minutes to beat Andrea Petkovic in the US Open third round

"I love this court. You know, the atmosphere's really great there," said Wozniacki. "The crowd sits really close to you. I think it's an amazing court to play on. When I saw the schedule, I was really happy with getting another match there."

Quotes of the day

Venus Williams is not about to be hurried into retirement at the age of 34. "Time is continuous. No matter what age you are, I think in your mind you still feel quite young. I think that's everyone. In your head you're still very young. I'm still young. For tennis perhaps I'm older, but in life I'm a young person."

"I was trying not to get caught up in the whole Roger act out there. You walk out, you get a few cheers. He walks out and the crowd goes ballistic." Sam Groth on facing five-time champion Roger Federer.

Dominic Thiem did not relish having to play good friend Ernests Gulbis. "I hated the situation. It's a really great win for me - I would prefer it against everybody else, but not him."

Gulbis is asked what positives he takes from defeat. "What is positive for me? I lost. I'm going home. Nothing positive for me."

"I feel goofy right now. I feel like I'm 15." Mirjan Lucic-Barino is ready to party like it's 1999 - the last time she reached a Grand Slam fourth round.

'Kiss the net better'

Monfils will play 12th seed Richard Gasquet in the third round

France's 20th seed Gael Monfils served four double faults in his first service game on Friday - before questioning the height of the net after falling 2-0 behind in the opening set.

Monfils walked up and held his hand on the white tape at the top of the net, while wondering aloud whether it was set up properly, drawing a laugh from umpire Gianluca Moscarella.

"I asked him, 'Are you sure?'" Monfils said later. And Moscarella's response? "He said: 'You should kiss the net and it should be better after,'" Monfils recalled with a smile.

"I trust him, because I know they measure it before and between the sets,'' the Frenchman said.

Monfils ended up with 10 double faults in all, but that did not prevent him from beating Alejandro Gonzalez of Colombia 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time since a quarter-final run in 2010.