Andy Roddick tweeted saying Novak Djokovic "takes your legs, then he takes your soul", and the Serbian's response had the US Open crowd cheering.

Andy Murray lost the Madrid Open men's singles to Novak Djokovic to be overtaken by Swiss ace Roger Federer.

Pete Sampras won his last major at the 2002 US Open and Andre Agassi's final Slam trophy was hoisted at the 2003 Australian Open. Then came Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open, a win that helped him to world number one until February of 2004.

Serb has won only once at Flushing Meadows and wants more.

Ranked 12th in the world, American John Isner has won two of his nine career titles in Atlanta, where he also lost to Mardy Fish in the 2010 and 2011 finals and to eventual champion Andy Roddick in the 2012 semi-finals.

Navratilova said she expects the American to equal her total of 18 Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open starting in Melbourne this month and go on to better Graf's record of 22.

In what could be a dress rehearsal for the Australian Open final, Williams won a close first set then edged Azarenka in the second to win 6-4, 7-5 in 98 minutes.

Nadal's 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over

It was only the second time in 10 attempts that Ivanovic has beaten the 33-year-old Williams, who has not won a title since October 2012.

The Spaniard has never previously won an ATP World Tour title in the first week of the season, but he is on course to do so this time after seeing off Gulbis, the only other seeded player left in the draw.