It was a tough day at the courts at the US Open on Thursday for former champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who struggled before getting their respective second-round wins. Federer needed five sets to subdue long-time rival Mikhail Youzhny, while Nadal overcame the opening set deficit to clinch the win in four sets. In women’s singles, world No 1 Karolina Pliskova trailed by a set to Nicole Gibbs before turning the match around for a hard-fought win.

Upsets continued to dot the day as well, with Andrey Rublev cutting short the seventh seeded Grigor Dimitrov’s outing and Alexandr Dolgopolov upsetting the 15th seed Tomas Berdych. Eighth seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova was also upset, by Kurumi Nara.

Dive in for all the on- and off-court action from Day 3 at at Flushing Meadows.

The big news

Federer, Nadal and Pliskova stutter

The Swiss star, a five-time former champion in Flushing Meadows, once again needed five sets to secure the win against two-time former semi-finalist Youzhny. Federer won the first set, but dropped the second and third sets before regrouping in the latter two sets to claim the win 6-1, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

This was Federer’s 80th match win at the US Open and his 17th win over the Russian, bringing his win-to-loss record to 17-0.

Nadal, meanwhile, started off slowly against the world No 121 Taro Daniel. After losing the first set, the Mallorcan even trailed by a break early on in the second set before finding a firmer footing in the match to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. This was Nadal’s 51st win of the season and take his place in the round-of-32.

World No 1 Pliskova, who has a lot riding at the Major this fortnight, also looked to be in trouble against the 127th ranked Gibbs. However, the Czech gained confidence in her game and was prompt in ensuring her place in the women’s draw with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

End of the road for Dimitrov, Berdych and Kuznetsova

The Bulgarian had come to Flushing Meadows on a high after his win at the Cincinnati Masters. It didn’t, however, take long for the euphoria to fade as 19-year-old Andrey Rublev upset the world No 9 in straight sets 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3 in the second round. Earlier, Dimitrov led 5-2 in the first set and 4-2 in the second set, before conceding his lead to the Russian on both occasions.

World No 18 Berdych looked to be struggling with a back injury when Dolgopolov put an end to his misery. Earlier, it was the Czech who seized the lead in the match after winning the first set, but it all went awry as the Ukrainian won 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5), 6-2.

Of the eight women’s players initially in contention to become the world No 1 after the US Open, now only four remain as Kuznetsova, too, lost her way in the second round to the 116th ranked Nara. The Japanese pipped the world No 8, who needed to win the title in order to become the world No 1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round.

Longest match in US Open history

There was this snippet that made its way into the pages of history at the US Open as well. Shelby Rogers and Daria Gavrilova played for three hours and 33 minutes – the longest women’s singles match in the tournament. The duo eclipsed the previous match record of three hours and 23 minutes set by Garbine Muguruza and Johanna Konta in the second round of the 2015 US Open. Rogers eventually won Thursday’s encounter over the 25th seeded Australian 7-6(6), 6-4, 7-6(5).

Shot of the day

From the sidelines

Mermaid Keys on Madison Avenue

American player Madison Keys hails from the Midwest but has a close connection with New York thanks to her Christian name given to her by her mother, a huge fan of the movie “Splash,” where a mermaid assumes the name of Madison.

“I was named after the mermaid and I always thought it was really cool there was a street in a big city that had the same name as me. So from then on, I was always, ‘I want to go there and get a picture next to it.’ Luckily I haven’t done that because that’s really cheesy,” she said.

Inside the head of Naomi Osaka

Japan’s Naomi Osaka has been bringing welcome light relief to post-match news conferences. On Thursday, after reaching the third round, she was asked what she thinks about while preparing for a match.

“Once I was practicing, right, and my whole practice – you know, there is that commercial that says, ‘If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma,’ that’s all I could think about for the whole practice. I was, like, why do I keep thinking this? Then, like, during the breaks, all I could see was like that commercial where this woman was running in a field. I mean, it was a good practice. It’s just my mind wasn’t there. Like, I think it was just muscle memory and stuff. That was a weird day.”

Svitolina happy to be very early riser

Fourth seed Elina Svitolina reached the third round of the US Open for a third successive year by winning the opening match on Ashe despite the early start.

“It’s a big challenge to wake up at 6.00 am or even 5.00 am but I’m really thankful for the opportunity to play on Ashe. Not everybody gets this opportunity,” said the Ukrainian after seeing off Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets.

Quotable quotes

“It’s going to be sore.”

– Rogers who beat Gavrilova in the longest women’s singles match ever played at the tournament – 3hr 33min – reflecting on how her body will feel in the morning.

“It feels like I played three and a half hours for nothing.”

– Gavrilova, after losing her marathon second round match to Rogers.

“Even if I say I will die from the cramps, they will just look at me and say ‘OK, bye-bye’.”

– Youzhny, unable to get treatment for cramping in his five-set loss to Federer.

With inputs from AFP.