Davydenko extends easy run into fourth round

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko continued his smooth ride through the U.S. Open on Sunday with a 6-2 7-6 6-3 third-round win over fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

The 26th seeded Tursunov stretched him to a tiebreak in the second but Davydenko won it 7-3. He claimed an early break in the third to go 3-1 ahead and closed it off efficiently.

Serving for the match at 5-3, the 27-year-old slugged it out from the baseline during the long rallies and kept up the pressure until Tursunov made the first error.

"I need to control the baseline which is what I did today," Davydenko, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, said in a courtside interview.

Davydenko, a semi-finalist in New York for the last two years, could run into four-times champion Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.

The Russian will next face either Nicolas Almagro of Spain or Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)