Venus Williams moved on and Marat Safin said goodbye at the US Open yesterday.

Her left knee heavily wrapped, the third-seeded Williams defeated fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2 in a much easier match than she had two nights before when she fell behind a set before rallying against Russian Vera Dushevina.

She hurt the knee in the opener and the heavy tape she wore for the second round confirmed the injury was more than just a tweak. But Williams, who fielded no fewer than a dozen questions about her health in the postmatch interview, insisted she wouldn't use it as an excuse.

"I'm still playing well and I feel I'll continue to play better as the rounds go on," she said. "I'm trying not to make this injury a factor at all."

Major title

She said she had no plans to pull out of the doubles with her sister, Serena, where they are trying to add the US Open to their Australian and Wimbledon titles this year.

"My mentality for doubles is, it's a major title and I love winning majors," Venus said. "It's not a decision I take lightly. I'm going to do my best to be able to prepare."

While Williams advanced to the third round, Safin's Grand Slam career was over.

Planning to retire at season's end, the former world No. 1 fell 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to Jurgen Melzer of Austria.

Safin's career will end with two Grand Slam titles, a smaller number than many experts thought possible when he broke through by beating Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open final.

"That match was a miracle for me," Safin said. "It took some time for me to see how big this thing was. It was difficult because I was also 20 years old, I wasn't ready for this. It was difficult to understand it."

Emotional player

Now he's 29 and wants to move to the next chapter of his career, though he concedes he's not sure what, exactly, that will be. Watching his top-ranked sister, Dinara Safina, probably won't be a big part of it.

"I really love my sister, but I think she can manage without me," he said.

He leaves behind a lot of good memories. He was a fiery, emotional player in a sport that doesn't have many - a player who estimated has broken more than 300 rackets in his career and also got fined for pulling his pants down once during a French Open match.

Will he miss tennis as much as tennis misses him?

Also exiting was two-time major champion Amelie Mauresmo, who fell 6-4, 6-0 to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.

Defending champions Serena Williams and Roger Federer were scheduled for night matches.