Sharapova and Federer through on day of upsets

Former US Open champions Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova enjoyed straight sets wins at Flushing Meadows on a day that brought some notable exits.

Swiss second seed Federer beat Australia's Sam Groth 6-4 6-4 6-4 to reach the third round,

Russia's fifth seed Sharapova also progressed, reaching the fourth round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Sabine Lisicki.

Two-time champion Venus Williams and second seed Simona Halep were knocked out in their third round matches. Home favourite Venus Williams lost 6-0 0-6 7-6 (7-5) to Italy's Sara Errani.

Errani will play Mirjana Lucic-Baroni next after the Croatian qualifier beat Romania's Halep 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.

Germany's sixth seed Angelique Kerber was also beaten 6-1 7-5 by Switzerland's Belinda Bencic .

Federer, a five-time US Open champion, will play Spain's Marcel Granollers in the third round, while 2006 champion Sharapova faces Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.

Having twice come back from being down a break in the third set, Williams had a chance to serve out the match.

But Errani, who had not won more than three games in a set against Williams in three previous meetings, showed great fighting spirit to force a tie-break.

Ultimately Williams was undone by too many unforced errors - she had 52 in all - although with seeds tumbling all around her, Errani will like her chances of going far in the tournament.

Lucic-Baroni, 32, reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1999 but had not reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament since.

Off-court problems derailed her career but she returned to the Grand Slam stage in 2010 after a gap of eight years and beat future Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli at SW12 in 2012.

(BBC)