Seventh-seeded Jennifer Capriati continued her straight-sets march through the U.S. Open today, defeating Patricia Hy 6-1, 6-4.
The match lasted 59 minutes as Capriati continued to make fast work of the field. Her previous victories over Eva Plaff and Petra Ritter went 39 and 43 minutes.The 15-year-old Capriati became the first player to advance to the fourth round.
Her match with Hy opened another busy day as the Open headed into its first weekend at the muggy National Tennis Center.
Scheduled later for the Stadium court were Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, seeded No. 3, against MaliVai Washington and No. 2 seed Stefan Edberg against Jim Grabb.
Defending champion Gabriela Sabatini, the No. 3 seed, played Gretchen Magers, and Ivan Lendl, seeded No. 5, played Todd Woodbridge on the Grandstand court.
The feature match of the evening program pitted four-time champion John McEnroe, seeded No. 16, against Michael Chang.
McEnroe once dominated this tournament as did Jimmy Connors, who again delighted the crowd when he won his second-round match.
Still flying from his five-set comeback victory over Patrick McEnroe in the first round of the U.S. Open, Connors drilled Michael Schapers 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 Thursday night.
On a day of stifling heat and humidity, the seeded players advanced without much trouble.
On the women's side, winners included top-seeded Steffi Graf, No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and No. 6 Martina Navratilova. Among the men who advanced were No. 1 Boris Becker, No. 4 Jim Courier and No. 6 Pete Sampras, the defending champion.
Graf needed just 39 minutes for a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Catherine Mothes, the first match of the tournament in which the winner did not drop at least one game.
Sanchez Vicario defeated Kristin Godridge 6-1, 6-1 and was pleased with her performance. "I'm playing really well at the moment," she said. "I have to think positive. I always play well here. I like this tournament. I like big crowds."
Navratilova took out Debbie Graham, eliminating the 1990 NCAA singles champion 6-1, 6-4. It was not much of a birthday gift for Graham, who turned 21 this week.
Becker outlasted Alexander Volkov 6-0, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
Courier, his shirt soaked by temperatures that soared well past 100 degrees at courtside, was pleased by a second straight three-set victory, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 over Jimmy Arias. It was achieved at center court, acknowledgment of Courier's status as a Grand Slam winner, following his triumph at the French Open.
Sampras beat Wayne Ferreira 6-1, 6-2 and was tied 2-2 in the third when a twisted ankle forced Ferreira to retire.
Also withdrawing were Christian Bergstrom, who suffered heat exhaustion in the third set of his match with Arnaud Boetsch, Thierry Champion, who retired in the third set of his match with Anders Jarryd because of a pulled stomach muscle and Jaime Yzaga, forced out of his match with Aaron Krickstein because of a strained right knee.