NEW YORK (AP) — The latest on the U.S. Open (all times local):
3:25 p.m.
Defending champ Marin Cilic, who had won five consecutive matches in straight sets at the U.S. Open, was pushed to five sets before escaping with a third-round victory Friday.
Cilic beat 56th-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1 in 4 hours, 11 minutes.
He was twice a point from going down two sets but saved both with big serves. Up a set and a break earlier in the second, Kukushkin had a chance to serve out the set and was broken.
But the ninth-seeded Cilic couldn’t close out the match in the fourth after going up a break. He then dominated the final set.
The players combined for 117 winners and 119 unforced errors.
Cilic said in an on-court interview he knew in the second set that if he could stick around in the match, he’d have the advantage at the end. Kukushkin, trying to reach the fourth round at the U.S. Open for the first time, was coming off a five-set upset of 17th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
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3:05 p.m.
Reminded that it’s been 18 years since her first U.S. Open, a victorious Venus Williams joked: “Why do you have to bring all that stuff up? It makes me feel old.”
Williams looked like a player in her prime in a 6-3, 6-4 third-round win Friday over 12th-seeded Belinda Bencic, who just happens to be 18 years old, born a few months before the American’s stunning run to her first U.S. Open final.
Williams, now 35 and dealing with auto-immune condition Sjogren’s syndrome, rallied from down a break in the second set Friday.
“I love how everyone got behind me, even when I was down,” she said in an on-court interview about the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Bencic was coming off a breakthrough title at Toronto, where she upset Serena Williams along the way. Venus got some sisterly revenge — and could meet Serena in the quarterfinals. Little sister faces another American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, in the third round later Friday.
“I’m really pleased to have won a match against someone who’s had a great summer,” Venus said.
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3 p.m.
Venus Williams is back in the U.S. Open round of 16 for the first time since 2010.
The 35-year-old American won in straight sets Friday against Belinda Bencic, who was an infant when Williams reached her first final at Flushing Meadows in 1997. Williams had struggled to close out her second-round match, but there were few signs of tightness in this 6-3, 6-4 victory as she jumped all over the 18-year-old’s serve.
There was no doubt in this one which player was the seasoned veteran and which the nervous teen, though this technically was an upset with Williams seeded 23rd and Bencic 12th. Williams had 31 winners to just 15 unforced errors.
Mentor Martina Hingis, a former rival of Williams’, looked on as Bencic tried to make a deep run at the U.S. Open for the second straight year. She was a quarterfinalist in 2014 and was coming off a breakthrough title at Toronto, where she beat Serena Williams along the way.
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1:20 p.m.
Ekaterina Makarova, a U.S. Open semifinalist last year, was trying to serve out her third-round match Friday when her leg suddenly started cramping.
With double match point at 6-5 in the second set, the 13th-seeded Russian double-faulted then hit a forehand well long. She headed toward her chair and called for a trainer, who came out of the stands to remind Makarova that players can receive treatment for cramping only during changeovers.
She then badly mis-hit another forehand to give 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina break point. But Makarova settled down to win the next three points and pull out the 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Makarova, who had her right thigh re-wrapped after the seventh game of the second set, later said in an on-court interview that she had never cramped up like that before.
“I was so scared,” she said.
Makarova next faces 40th-ranked Kristina Mladenovic in a quarter of the draw that is wide open after third-seeded Maria Sharapova’s withdrawal and several upsets. On Friday, Mladenovic ended the run of “lucky loser” Daria Kasatkina, who took Sharapova’s place in the draw, with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. It’s the first time Mladenovic has reached a Grand Slam round of 16.
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12:15 p.m.
Marin Cilic has finally dropped a set at the U.S. Open after winning 16 in a row.
The defending champion lost the first set against 56th-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin in the third round Friday. He hadn’t dropped one since the fourth set of the fourth round last year against Gilles Simon.
Cilic won his final three matches of 2014 in straight sets on the way to his first major title then posted two more three-set victories to start the 2015 tournament.
Cilic, seeded ninth this year, netted an ill-advised drop shot on set point in a tiebreaker Friday, then smashed his racket on the court in disgust.
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