NEW YORK — Maria Sharapova knows the story all too well: An unknown American kid shows up at the U.S. Open, upsets a seeded player, gains some buzz and belief, then gets a shot at Sharapova in the third round.
In 2009, that kid was Melanie Oudin, who beat Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals.
In 2010, that kid was Beatrice Capra and, well, let’s just say that Sharapova fared a little better this time around.
Overwhelmed by the stage, the circumstances, the 25 mph wind that knocked the neon lime visor off her head during a point, and — most of all — a solid Sharapova, the 18-year-old Capra didn’t win a game, let alone the match. Instead, 2006 U.S. Open champion Sharapova set up a fourth-round showdown with No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki by blanking the 371st-ranked Capra 6-0, 6-0 on Saturday in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Capra’s exit leaves Venus Williams as the only U.S. woman in the field.
“This was a new day,” said Sharapova, the first woman to win love-and-love at the U.S. Open in the third round or later since Martina Navratilova did it in the 1989 quarterfinals. “And what happened last year — I didn’t really want to go into the match thinking about it.”
On her very first serve of the afternoon, Capra nearly sailed the ball all the way to the opposite baseline. That might have been a result of nerves and the ever-swirling wind, which made the U.S. flag above the stadium flap loudly and caused four midpoint stoppages in play when debris rolled onto the court.
“This is probably the toughest conditions we’re going to get,” Sharapova said.
Actually, other than whiffing on one serve return, Sharapova handled the conditions rather well; others did not. Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, shanked one serve straight up in the air off the top of her racket frame and finished with 41 unforced errors in a 6-2, 7-6 (1) loss to No. 31 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
“You get frustrated with the wind,” Jankovic said, “because you want to hit balls in (a) certain direction, and they go everywhere except where you want them to go.”
There were no such surprises in early men’s action. Five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer reached the fourth round by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; No. 5 Robin Soderling, twice a French Open finalist, defeated Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; No. 19 Mardy Fish outlasted 32-year-old Arnaud Clement, the oldest man left, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; No. 21 Albert Montanes advanced when qualifier Ken Nishikori quit in the second set with a groin injury, two days after winning a grueling five-setter; and No. 17 Gael Monfils picked up a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Janko Tipsarevic, who knocked off 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the second round.
Asked to describe the weather, Monfils said: “Awful. I mean, for me: awful.”
Wozniack has won 36-of-39 games so far, including Saturday’s 6-1, 6-0 victory over Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan. The three games Wozniacki has lost are the fewest through three completed matches at any Grand Slam tournament since Mary Pierce dropped only two at the 1994 French Open.
U.S. Open/glance
A look at Saturday’s play in the $22.7 million U.S. Open tennis championships:
Weather: Mostly clear and very breezy. High of 81.
Men’s seeded winners: Third round: No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 5 Robin Soderling, No. 17 Gael Monfils, No. 19 Mardy Fish and No. 21 Albert Montanes.
Men’s seeded losers: None.
Women’s seeded winners: Third round: No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 14 Maria Sharapova, No. 15 Yanina Wickmayer and No. 31 Kaia Kanepi.
Women’s seeded loser: No. 4 Jelena Jankovic.
Today on TV: CBS, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (live); Tennis Channel, 5-9 p.m. (live), 9-10 p.m. (highlights).
