Kastles Roll into Us Open 3rd Round

Serena Williams, a Kastle since 2008, defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round match on Thursday for her fourth win in as many meetings with the Spaniard.

Next up for Serena is a much-anticipated rematch with Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Saturday. Makarova stunned Serena at the 2012 Australian Open, so the American will be keen to reverse that result in front of her home crowd. You can catch that match Saturday on CBS or via live streaming at USOpen.org.

Serena's big sister Venus Williams played an epic second-round match against No. 6 Angelique Kerber that began on Thursday evening and ended on Friday morning.

Two points from losing the match in the second set, Venus sent the New York City crowd into a frenzy with a comeback reminiscent of her Kastles performance against Martina Hingis and the New York Sportimes on July 21st. In the end, however, the fast-rising Kerber survived in two hours and 45 minutes 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

Venus' US Open is not over yet. She and Serena defeated No. 15 seeds Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the third round in doubles on Friday.

Leander Paes of the Kastles and Radek Stepanek are through to the third round following their 7-5, 7-6(3) win over Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Joao Souza.

Stepanek is Paes' fourth partner from the Czech Republic in 18 US Open appearances. The Indian is 24-4 at the tournament alongside a Czech, highlighted by titles in 2009 with Lukas Dlouhy and 2006 with Martin Damm, and a run to the 2004 final with David Rikl.

Also on Friday, Anastasia Rodionova and Galina Voskoboeva took on Sabine Lisicki and Shuai Peng in a women's doubles second-round match. Lisicki and Peng defeated the Kastle and her partner from Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-1.

In a first-round match on Thursday, Rodionova and Voskoboeva defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld of the Orange County Breakers and Petra Martic 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4.

Washington wild card Raquel Kops-Jones and New York Sportimes substitute Abigail Spears are now one win away from their second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. The Americans defeated Slovakians Janette Husarova and Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round match on Friday.

Besides reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon earlier this summer, Kops-Jones and Spears were also quarterfinalists at the 2008 US Open

In other Kastles action, Rodionova & Jean-Julien Rojer and Paes & Elena Vesnina have yet to begin play in the mixed doubles tournament, while Washington substitute Treat Huey is due to play his second-round men's doubles match this weekend.

Huey and Kops-Jones got good news on Friday when they were added as alternates to the mixed doubles draw.

The bad news? Their first-round opponents are Paes and Vesnina, who have reached the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals already this season.

The Kastles vs. Kastle battle is scheduled for Saturday as the second match after 1 pm on Court 8.

Be sure to visit the 'Keeping up with the Kastles' tracker on WashingtonKastles.com throughout the weekend for full US Open Kastles results and schedules, links to live scoring and streaming, and details on how you can catch the Kastles on TV.

The dream run of 2009 Kastle Olga Puchkova got even better on Thursday as the qualifier won her fifth straight match to reach the US Open third round.

Puchkova defeated Kiki Bertens 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to set up a date with French Open finalist Sara Errani on Saturday in the third match after 11 am on Court 17. That match can be seen via live streaming on USOpen.org.

The Russian clinched Washington's first WTT title three summers ago after saving three championship points in women's singles.

More magical moments are bound to occur when the Kastles compete for their third King Trophy during WTT Finals Weekend Sept. 15-16 in Charleston, S.C. After their time in New York City is through, Reynolds, Paes, Venus Williams and Anastasia Rodionova will join Coach Murphy Jensen and Arina Rodionova at the Family Circle Tennis Center.

Detailed information on WTT Finals Weekend tickets, hotels, flights and team events can be found on WashingtonKastles.com.

Remember when? Olga Puchkova led Washington to its first WTT championship.

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World TeamTennis Stories from September 1, 2012

• Kastles Roll into Us Open 3rd Round - Washington Kastles

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