• US Open - Men's Draw

Federer earns comprehensive victory

Roger Federer gave an efficient performance to breeze past Paul-Henri Mathieu © Getty Images

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US Open Day Six gallery

Roger Federer remains on course to become the first man in the Open era to win the US Open six times after he comprehensively beat Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Federer, a five-time champion at Flushing Meadows, was never at his best as he reached the last 16 with a routine 6-4 6-3 6-3 win.

Such is the Swiss's talent that as Mathieu chased down everything and threw all that he had at Federer, the 14-time Grand Slam champion simply absorbed it all before slipping through the gears at the pivotal points in all three sets to sail through. No.13 seed Jurgen Melzer is up next for Federer after the Austrian took out Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets.

Wind caused by the offshore Hurricane Earl caused havoc all day, but Novak Djokovic somehow thrived in the conditions to produce one of his best ever serving performances in his 6-1 7-6 6-3 win over James Blake.

Points were often disrupted by rubbish blowing across court but Djokovic still managed to land around 80% of his first serves in, giving Blake little sniff of an unlikely upset in the night match.

Djokovic has never lost under lights on centre court at Flushing Meadows and he did well to subdue the parochial hometown support for Blake. The American threatened to build momentum in the second set, winning some lengthy rallies including the point of the match during the tiebreak, but Djokovic's relentless serve and minimal errors proved too good and Blake couldn't sustain his level of play.

There was no stopping Robin Soderling. The big-serving fifth seed thrashed Thiemo de Bakker 6-2 6-3 6-3 to set up a fourth round clash with Spain's Albert Montanes, who was a set up when Kei Nishikori retired hurt.

"Everybody has been telling me since the draw came out I'm playing Roger in the quarters. It's still far ahead," said Soderling.

"It's always difficult to play against Roger and I have played him a lot of times. In any tournament they play, Roger and Rafa will be the favourites, but there are a lot of players who can beat them."

Gael Monfils, 24, made his way into the fourth round for the third year running with a four-set victory over Andy Roddick's conqueror Janko Tipsarevic. Fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet awaits the 17th seed after he brushed Kevin Anderson aside 6-4 7-6(3) 7-5.

Mardy Fish mixed the sublime with the ridiculous on his way to booking a place in the last 16. Seemingly cruising at two sets to one up, Fish then faced a backlash by Arnaud Clement and lost the fourth 6-1. But he showed all the attributes needed to go far in a slam to recover and take the decider 6-3. Djokovic will try to further spoil the American party when he meets Fish next up.

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