NEW YORK, NY, USA - Jennifer Brady underlined her status as one of the most dangerous dark horses of the 2020 US Open after the No.28 seed dispatched Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-3 with brutal efficiency in the third round after one hour and 16 minutes.

Having delivered one of the most dominant serving performances of the past 12 years to win her maiden title in Lexington a month ago - Brady's 93% hold rate places her as one of the Top 10 of that time frame among WTA titlists - the American is through to the second week of her home Grand Slam for the second time after dropping serve only twice so far. Neither of those occasions were today: the 25-year-old saved all five break points against her, while capturing Garcia's serve once in the first set and twice in the second to run out the victor.

Brady's toughest service games came when the World No.41 stepped up to the line to close out both sets: in the first, she would need to save three break points before emerging on top of a five-deuce tussle, and another one before sealing the win on her second match point. However, Garcia was unable to replicate the brilliance of her returning in upsetting No.1 seed Karolina Pliskova two days before, and in a battle of two of the heaviest forehands on tour had less control: both players tallied 18 winners, but the No.50-ranked Frenchwoman's 21 unforced errors were over double Brady's meagre nine. Brady will progress to face 2016 champion and No.17 seed Angelique Kerber in the fourth round.

Elsewhere in third-round action, No.23 seed Yulia Putintseva bounced back to quell Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in exactly two hours. The Kazakh was uncharacteristically error-prone in the first set against Sasnovich, whose smooth all-court game was firmly in control - but she has built a career on tactical adjustments and a battling mentality. Putintseva gradually wore the Belarusian down to preserve her immaculate record against her, now standing at three wins out of three encounters.

There were mixed fortunes for underdog Americans in dramatic conclusions to held-over second-round matches from Thursday. Sachia Vickery had led Polish teenager Iga Swiatek by a set when rain delayed play, having stolen the first-set tiebreak by reeling off seven straight points from 0-5 down. On resumption, the 19-year-old Swiatek continued to struggle with consistently controlling her power, particularly on her forehand, and would need to come back from a 1-3 deficit in the decider - but she made it count when she ultimately needed to, closing out the match with a flashy crosscourt winner off that wing to break No.160-ranked Vickery for a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 win.

However,18-year-old Catherine McNally managed to pull off an impressive upset over Ekaterina Alexandrova, withstanding the No.21 seed's renowned serve to eke out a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) victory - the first Top 30 win of the teenager's career. The match had been suspended at a set all, and when Shenzhen champion Alexandrova broke McNally back to level the decider at 4-4, it seemed as though the rising Russian had figured out the trickiness of the World No.124's net-rushing game. However, with the set heading inexorably towards a deciding tiebreak, it was McNally who controlled her shots more at the business end, winning 11 of the last 14 points from 5-6 down.

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