Andy Roddick of the United States jumps as he returns to Fabrice Santoro of France at the United States Open on Wednesday night. Roddick won 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. - AP

NEW YORK (AP):

VENUS WILLIAMS kept the favourites on the fast track at the United States Open, overwhelming Rossana de Los Rios of Paraguay in less than an hour to reach the third round yesterday. The seventh-seeded Williams won on her fifth match point after 59 minutes.

That's mostly been the pattern so far at Flushing Meadows, with the big names facing little trouble.

Through the early action on day four, only two top players had been upset in the tournament - number-eight Vera Zvonareva and number-10 Anna Chakvetadze.

Six-seeded Dinara Safina, number-nine Agnieszka Radwan-ska, number-17 Alize Cornet, number-18 Dominika Cibulkova and number-19 Nadia Petrova also won in straight sets, while number-20 Nicole Vaidisova lost to Severine Bremond 7-5, 6-3.

On the men's side, number-10 Stanislas Wawrinka swept Wayne Odesnik of the United States.

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams and James Blake were scheduled to play second-round matches later.

Breezed past opponent

Venus Williams breezed past an opponent ranked 117th. After teaming with her sister to win Olympic gold in doubles, the two-time US Open champion stayed on course to play Serena in the quarter-finals here.

Safina, not nearly as volatile as brother Marat Safin, played under control in beating Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-3. The Russian seemed perturbed just once, when she challenged a line call - she was right - and earned a replay of a point late in the second set.

The 22-year-old Safina has won 17 of her past 18 matches, losing only to Elena Dementieva for the Olympic gold medal.

Radwanska beat Mariana Duque Marino of Colombia 6-0, 7-6 (3) and fittingly won the final point at the net. Last year, the Polish teen made a splash at the US Open when she startled Maria Sharapova, often walking halfway to the service box and hopping before backing up to receive.

That breakthrough win over Sharapova came in the third round. This time, Radwanska will play Cibulkova in the third round.

Outlandish outfits

Cornet rallied in the first-set tiebreaker to fashion a 7-6 (5), 6-1 over Bethanie Mattek of the United States. The 18-year-old French teen took advantage of Mattek's four straight misses to close out the opening set.

Mattek is known for her out-landish outfits - she started out last year's Open in a revealing, metallic gold Wonder Woman get-up and later wore a leopard-print ensemble. Her attire for this match was downright conservative by her standards, featuring a white top that was wide open in the back and a black skirt.

Now ranked number 44 after a successful season, Mattek lost in her first match-up with Cornet. Mattek came to the Open without a coach and sometimes uses YouTube to scout players she's never faced.