New York -
Flavia Pennetta reached the US Open quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Casey Dellacqua, beginning a full Labor Day slate of matches featuring top-seeded Serena Williams and six of the top 10 men's seeds.
Pennetta, the 11th-seeded Italian who reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, won with the help of 35 unforced errors from the 29th-seeded Dellacqua.
Pennetta will play the winner of the match between Williams and 50th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.
Other key matches on Monday included top-seeded Novak Djokovic against 22nd-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, third-seeded Stan Wawrinka against 16th-seeded Tommy Robredo, and eighth-seeded Andy Murray taking on ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Unlike the men's side, which entered Monday with only one major upset, No 4 David Ferrer, the women's draw has been decimated. Only Williams, No 7 Eugenie Bouchard and No 10 Caroline Wozniacki have survived among the top 10 seeds going into the tournament's second week.
Victoria Azarenka, the No 16 seed and US Open finalist loser to Williams the last two years, sought a place in the quarter-finals with a night match against 145th-ranked qualifier Aleksandra Krunic. Bouchard was seeking her spot with a matchup against No 17-seeded Ekatarina Makarova.
In other early action Monday, the No 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan rolled on in their quest for a 100th career title with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over US countrymen Bradley Klahn and Tim Smyzek. The Bryans, who hold a record 15 Grand Slam tournament titles, have yet to drop a set on their road to the quarter-finals.
And the darling of the US Open, 15-year-old CiCi Bellis, opened her pursuit of the junior girls' crown with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mexico's Renata Zarazua.
Bellis, the top-seeded junior, played in the grandstand, the third-largest venue, to accommodate fans eager to watch the 15-year-old prodigy. Bellis upset of 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, the Australian Open runner-up, in the first round of the main draw. - Sapa-AP