NEW YORK : Defending champion Roger Federer and former winners Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt advanced on Sunday at the U.S. Open on a day when two-time winner Andre Agassi bowed out for good.

Between them, they and Agassi (1999) have captured six of the last seven U.S. Open titles. The lone champion missing from that stretch is Pete Sampras (2002) who retired after his final U.S. Open appearance.

Safin, who won six years ago in New York, continued his domination over David Nalbandian, upsetting the fourth-seeded Argentinean 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6(6) in a second round match.

"It feels good, especially beating good players like Nalbandian. Hopefully I can continue heading closer to the final," said Safin.

Five-set win

Andy Roddick, whose lone major title came in New York in 2003, reached the fourth round with a five-set victory over Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Roddick will attempt to avenge Agassi's defeat when he faces Benjamin Becker next.

Roddick, who has seen his world-ranking drop to No. 10, boasted that he would be a prime-time player again.

"I will be top five again, by the way," said the former World No. 1.

The 2001 champ Hewitt reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over World No. 23 Novak Djokovic.

The Australian is nursing a sore knee in New York, but the injury isn't slowing him down. "I am happy with the way I can compete out there at the moment," said Hewitt.

Two-time defending champion Federer crushed American Vince Spadea 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in an evening match to set up a clash with unseeded Marc Gicquel of France, who came through after a tough five-setter against former French Open winner Gaston Gaudio of Argentina.

It was the Swiss star's 17th straight win at Flushing Meadows and moves him another step closer to becoming just the third man in the Open era after John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl to win a hat-trick of U.S. Open titles.

The unseeded Safin has booked a date with Olivier Rochus of Belgium for a place in the fourth round. Safin, who has 15 career singles titles, is currently ranked 104th in the world, his lowest ranking since 1998.

Safin, who won his first Grand Slam title here in 2000, fired 14 aces and hammered 53 winners in the 3hour, 46 minute five-set marathon.

Digging deep

Former women's champion Lindsay Davenport survived her first real test by digging deep to beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Third seed Maria Sharapova continued her march by beating fellow Russian Elena Likhotseva 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova, who has not lost a set so far, faces China's Na Li in the fourth round.

Also on the women's side, unseeded Serena Williams raced into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old Ana Ivanovic.

Serena will now play top seed Amelie Mauresmo of France who beat Italy's Mara Santangelo 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Serena goes into the match brimming with confidence knowing she has a 9-1 career win-loss record against Mauresmo.

"We always have some really matches. I like the way she hits the ball," Serena said.

Mixed day for Indians

The Indian players on show had a mixed day on Sunday. In men's doubles, Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm got the better of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 7-6(4) in their second round encounter.

Sania Mirza entered the quarterfinals of the women's event but bowed out of the mixed doubles competition. The 11th-seeded combination of Sania and South African Liezel Huber trounced Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France and Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-0, 6-3 to move ahead.

However, Sania had disappointment in store in the mixed doubles as she and Czech Republic's Pavel Vizner went down fighting to Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia Montenegro 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 in the first round.

In the boy's event, sixth seed Sanam Singh and Rupesh Roy both exited in the first round after going down against Canada's Yoann Re 6-1, 6-1 and Potugal's Gastao Elias 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 respectively. — Agencies

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