Jessica Pegula and former champion Daniil Medvedev raced into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday with straight-sets victories.
American contender Ben Shelton also booked a third-round berth and defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka hoped to follow, even as more rain left a handful of players still trying to get through the first round four days into the event.
World number three Pegula needed just 56 minutes to trounce Sofia Kenin, the former Australian Open champion now ranked 110th, 6-3, 6-1.
Seventh-seeded Medvedev downed US wild card Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.
Pegula, who is among a trio of players who could supplant Aryna Sabalenka atop the world rankings in New York, dropped just seven points on serve.
"I was just trying to stay focused on what I needed to do," said the 2024 US Open runner-up, who next meets another former finalist, Leylah Fernandez.
The Canadian breezed past Thailand's Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1.
Medvedev, who has struggled in the hard court build-up to the year's final Grand Slam, dominated 731st-ranked Gorzny.
He fired 14 aces and saved the lone break point he faced, although he was distracted briefly when a pair of small birds perched on the Louis Armstrong Stadium net and he was forced to replay a point he thought he'd won.
"I saw them straight away and I thought the point would stop straight away and we didn't," Medvedev said. "And the moment I hit the winner we stop. I was not happy with the decision."
He was happy enough with his game, however.
"The first two sets he was not playing the best tennis of his life maybe. The third set was much more competitive," Medvedev said.
"At the same time I feel like I had more break points and put more pressure on him."
Eighth-seeded Shelton prevailed in a tense battle with former world number six Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 to reach the third round for the fourth straight year.
"I thought it was a battle to the end," Shelton said. "I thought Hubi played fantastic today.
"It was really tough to deal with everything he was throwing at me," added the American, whose solid North American hard-court season included a second straight Canadian Open title in Montreal.
Shelton was backed by a raucous crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium, made even more noisy with the roof closed.
Sabalenka and Alcaraz will close out the day on Ashe, Sabalenka taking on 160th-ranked Russian qualifier Polina Iatcenko in the next step of her bid for a rare US Open three-peat.
Alcaraz caps the night session against Portugal's Jaime Faria.
Alcaraz won his seventh major title at the Australian Open in January but arrived in New York an unknown quantity after a wrist injury forced a four-month layoff that saw him miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
He dispelled doubts with a straight-set victory over Roman Safiullin and will look for further improvement against 72nd-ranked Faria.
American 11th seed Frances Tiafoe was also in action. But another American tipped as a contender -- in-form 16th-seed Brandon Nakashima -- bowed out,
upset by 46th-ranked compatriot Alex Michelsen 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
But outside the covered confines of Ashe and the Louis Armstrong Stadium, rain again disrupted play.
Sixth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur finally got his campaign underway, but his first-round match was halted by showers with the Aussie up 6-2, 4-2 on Italian Andrea Guerrieri.
Spain's Paula Badosa, who was serving for her match when rain stopped play on Tuesday night, returned to finish off Australian Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-4 and book a second-round clash with fourth-seeded American Coco Gauff.
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