New Zealand tennis player Erin Routliffe. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Defending champions Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski have charged into the women's doubles third round at the US Open.
New Zealander Routliffe and Dabrowski, from Canada, notched their second straight-sets win at the Grand Slam tournament in New York, casting aside Alicja Rosolska of Poland and Catherine Harrison of the United States 7-5 6-4.
The pair won nearly three-quarters of the points in which they landed their first serve and were also efficient with their returning, setting up 11 break points to their opponents' five.
The pair will hope their form continues all the way to the final, where they triumphed a year ago.
Their third-round opponents are Romanian Jaqueline Cristian and Italian Angelica Moratelli.
Sinner advances
Meanwhile, world number one Jannik Sinner's bid for a second Grand Slam title continued to gain momentum as he thumped Christopher O'Connell 6-1 6-4 6-2 to reach the men's singles fourth round.
Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Sinner, who has seen two of his biggest rivals for the title at Flushing Meadows fall by the wayside this week after Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic were beaten, took an hour and 53 minutes to bundle out his 87th-ranked opponent.
The Italian made slow starts in his opening two matches at the US Open but he shot out of the blocks on Arthur Ashe Stadium court for a 5-0 lead before taking the first set on serve.
Australian O'Connell provided a degree of resistance in the second set, but Sinner broke early to take a 2-1 lead and went on to clinch the set with a vicious cross-court forehand winner.
Sinner continued to pepper O'Connell with winners, taking his tally up to 46 as he broke twice in the final set to wrap up the win.
Australian Open champion Sinner's strongest weapon in the victory was his flawless serve, firing 15 aces and denying O'Connell any break points across the three sets.
O'Connell, who had lost all eight of his previous meetings with top-10 players, looked powerless throughout as his bid to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time failed.
Sinner faces either 14th-seeded local hope Tommy Paul or Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo in the fourth round.
- RNZ / Reuters