Federer wins in straight sets

He advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open, where he’ll face Lleyton Hewitt.

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer’s winning streak at the U.S. Open is up to 36 matches. He’ll try for No. 37 against a familiar opponent.

The top-seeded Federer moved into the third round at Flushing Meadows by beating 65th-ranked Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 Wednesday night before a night-session record crowd of 24,206.

“I thought, with a little bit of luck, I could win one set,” Greul said. “But it didn’t happen. He was playing too well.”

Next up for Federer: a match against 2001 U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt. The 31st-seeded Hewitt beat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

Federer has won 13 consecutive matches against the formerly top-ranked Hewitt, including victories over the Australian in the 2004 final and 2005 semifinals at Flushing Meadows.

“I’m intrigued about this matchup. It’s an incredible run for me against him. I cannot believe I’ve beaten him that many times in a row,” Federer said. “But we had some close ones during those 13. Everyone starts from zero, unfortunately for me now. I hope I can win again.”

Federer is trying to become the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win the American Grand Slam tournament six years in a row.

Starting a bid to win the only Grand Slam title missing from his r sum , Rafael Nadal encountered no apparent trouble from his much-scrutinized legs in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Richard Gasquet.

Gasquet, for one, was impressed.

“He can win the tournament,” said Gasquet, a 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist and former top-10 player. “Day after day, he will improve his level. For sure, he can win.”

The defending women’s champion, Serena Williams, was spectacularly good in eliminating 51st-ranked Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-1 in 53 minutes in Wednesday’s last match.

Venus Williams, the 2000-01 champion in New York, had wide patches of white tape above and below her left knee, which began bothering her when she struggled through a first-round win Monday. Like Nadal, Williams looked hale Wednesday, and she easily dispatched Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-4, 6-2.

“She was moving like a cat,” Mattek-Sands said.

Nadal never mentioned his knee issues publicly until after the French Open, but he said Wednesday the pain dated to April, when he won the Monte Carlo Masters. He also won the next week, and the week after that, but he now attributes that success to “being on a roll.”

The recent time off means he has played a lot less than he’s accustomed to by this time in the season, which is a benefit at the last Grand Slam event of the year. He’s never been past the semifinals in New York.

“I am more fresh, yeah. Fresher than ever in this tournament. I don’t know if this kind of fresh is good,” he said. “No excuses about being very tired.”

Still, Nadal finds it amusing that there has been so much discussion about his knees and his time away from the tour.

“Seems like I was two years outside of competition,” he said. “It was two months.”

Seeded women sent home included No. 15 Samantha Stosur, a French Open semifinalist, who was beaten by Vania King of Long Beach, Calif., 7-5, 6-4; two-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo, who lost to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada; No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 20 Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Two fixtures on the men’s tour said goodbye to Grand Slam tennis with first-round exits: Marat Safin of Russia and Fabrice Santoro of France, who are retiring at the end of the season.

The 29-year-old Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion, lost to Jurgen Melzer of Austria 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; the 36-year-old Santoro, appearing in his record 69th major tournament, was beaten by No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.