Federer, Serena advance at US Open

Roger Federer and Serena Williams, with 29 Grand Slam titles between them, cruised into the US Open third round as the injury-plagued and illness-hit tournament claimed two more victims.Five-time US Open champion Federer eased past Israels world number 93 Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 for his 225th win at a major, one more than Andre Agassi and just eight behind Jimmy Connorss all-time mark of 233.Triple womens champion Serena Williams took just 49 minutes to dispose of Dutch qualifier Michaella Krajicek 6-0, 6-1 and could face Belarusian Victoria Azarenka for a last 16 place if the fourth seed beats Argentinas Gisela Dulko.Meanwhile, the number of walkovers and injury-enforced retirements at the tournament climbed to 13.Czech 23rd seed Radek Stepanek called it quits in the third set against Juan Monaco of Argentina with a shoulder injury.Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic reached the third round without hitting a ball when Czech player Petra Cetkovska, who beat the Serb at Wimbledon and was runner-up at New Haven at the weekend, withdrew through injury.Venus Williams, who pulled out on Wednesday, insisted that she has no intention of retiring despite being diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder.In an interview on ABCs Good Morning America, the 31-year-old said she was relieved that doctors had finally diagnosed her Sjogrens Syndrome, a condition in which the bodys immune system attacks its own healthy tissues.Serbian 11th seed Jelena Jankovic was also keeping the physios busy, needing on-court treatment on her back before wrapping up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australias Jelena Dokic.Also going through were Italian seventh seed Francesca Schiavone, who beat Croatias Mirjana Lucic, and German 10th seed Andrea Petkovic who came from a set and 3-0 down to beat Chinas Zheng Jie 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.In the mens event, there were wins for Czech ninth seed Tomas Berdych, Serb number 20 Janko Tipsarevic as well as Germanys Tommy Haas who, at 33, is the oldest player left in the mens draw.Haas, whose ranking has tumbled to 475, is playing in his 14th US Open and he made the third round with a straight sets win over Colombias Alejandro Falla.