US Open tennis: Missed match points Stakh up for profligate Harrison

American teenager Ryan Harrison squandered a great chance to claim a second shock victory of the week in the US Open today after failing to take three match points against Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Harrison, 18, who beat 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic in the opening round, was 6-3 ahead in the fifth-set tie-break but lost the next five points in succession - one of them by crucially serving a double fault - as Stakhovsky held on for a 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, (8/6) victory.

"I just got a little bit tight when I needed to come through," admitted Harrison.

There was better news for the home crowd with John Isner reaching the third round with a four-set win over Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli.

Isner hammered down 24 aces on his way to a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, (9/7), 6-4 win in just under three hours.

Earlier in the day, unseeded Frenchman Michael Llodra today continued his superb form by also advancing to the last 32, beating Victor Hanescu to set up a clash with Tommy Robredo, who benefitted from Julien Benneteau's retirement at 6-4, 6-6.

In the women's section, defending champion Kim Clijsters will face former world number one Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round of the US Open after both players enjoyed easy wins yesterday.

Clijsters won 12 games in a row to beat Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-0, while Ivanovic dropped just two more games in beating France's Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0.

One-sided victories were the order of the day, with Russia's Elena Dementieva earlier recovering from 5-2 down in the opening set against Daniela Hantuchova to win 11 of the next 13 games to complete a 7-5, 6-2 win.

She will face French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the last 16, the fifth seed beating Italy's Sara Errani 6-2, 6-3.

Elsewhere in the bottom half of the draw, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone beat Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 7-5 and will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round ,after the Russian beat Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-2.