Stomach Pain Nursed, Nadal Defeats Almagro

(AP)  Updated 4:30 p.m. Eastern time

Rafael Nadal encountered as much trouble from his own body as his opponent in a third-round victory at the U.S. Open.

The third-seeded Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with sore knees, needed a 10-minute injury break for a trainer to work on his abdominals early in the third set of his 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 32 Nicolas Almagro on Sunday.

The stomach injury first cropped up for Nadal last month at a tournament in Cincinnati.

While Nadal laid on the ground to receive treatment, Almagro was laying down to get work done on his back.

The Spaniards popped back up and Nadal finished the work, staying in the hunt to complete his career Grand Slam, though it has yet to be seen what kind of toll this match took on him.

"I feel it a little bit now, but I'll try my best to recover for the next match," said Nadal, who has insisted all week that he's been feeling fine. "I'm here to work hard and try my best all the time."

Earlier, No. 2 Serena Williams routed No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0, winning the final 10 games after starting the first set 2-2.

The defending champion's fourth-round match was competitive for all of four games Sunday, before Williams took 10 in a row to beat No. 22-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0.

Williams has reached the quarterfinals at 11 of the past 12 major tournaments and won the title at three of the past four.

With the score 2-all against Hantuchova, Williams hit three aces to hold for a 3-2 lead - and she wouldn't lose a game the rest of the way.

She has won all eight sets she's played this year at Flushing Meadows.

"I tried to relax," Williams said after improving to 8-1 against Hantuchova over their careers. "Sometimes I'm such a perfectionist, I too much stress on myself. I was like, 'Serena, relax!"'

She finished with eight aces and a 27-9 advantage in winners in Sunday's first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In other early action Sunday, 11th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez defeated 17th-seeded Tomas Berdych, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4, and No. 9 Gilles Simon of France retired because of a knee injury while trailing No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 1-0.

"Sometimes, I don't know why, I just feel a big pain," said Simon, who added that he's had problems with the knee since the French Open in May.

In the other early women's match, No. 18 Li Na of China ousted No. 26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, 6-2, 6-3.

No. 3 Venus Williams had an afternoon match against unseeded Kim Clijsters, who is facing, by far, the toughest match in her first appearance at the U.S. Open since she won it in 2005.

Also later, No. 2 Andy Murray was scheduled to play 195th-ranked Taylor Dent of Newport Beach, Calif., who has won two rounds in his inspirational comeback from back surgery.

No. 1 Dinara Safina was upset in the third round Saturday night, meaning No. 2 Williams is the highest-ranked woman left in the field. Safina will remain atop the rankings, though, even if Williams were to win a second consecutive U.S. Open title and fourth overall.

Safina was disappointed by her loss - and angry about her court assignment. Bumped out of Ashe for her late-night match Saturday because of time concerns, Safina was beaten by 72nd-ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5).

Ahead 6-5 in the third set, Safina had three match points but lost them all.

She blamed herself for that. But she also complained about the court change - both because she felt disrespected by the move and because she thought organizers could have handled the situation better.

"From my side, I can say, I'm No. 1 player in the world, why did they move me?" Safina said.

Her match was shifted from Arthur Ashe Stadium to the smaller Louis Armstrong Stadium because of a late-running afternoon session. The original schedule called for Safina-Kvitova to open the night session in Ashe, followed by a men's match between Tommy Robredo and James Blake. But because things were running late, organizers opted to play those matches simultaneously.

"They just told us, 'We're switching you to Armstrong.' And basically that's it," Safina said. "And I think it's very unfair."

Kvitova didn't seem to mind. Asked after her victory about the court change, she said: "Yeah, doesn't matter for me. I'm not (a) star, so ..."

Her win over Safina ended at 12:50 a.m., about 10 minutes before Robredo wrapped up his three-set victory over Blake next door.

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Results Sunday from the U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses):

Singles Men Third Round

Juan Carlos Ferrero (24), Spain, def. Gilles Simon (9), France, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 1-0, retired.

Fernando Gonzalez (11), Chile, def. Tomas Berdych (17), Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafael Nadal (3), Spain, def. Nicolas Almagro (32), Spain, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Singles Women Fourth Round

Serena Williams (2), United States, def. Daniela Hantuchova (22), Slovakia, 6-0, 6-2.

Li Na (18), China, def. Francesca Schiavone (26), Italy, 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles Men Third Round

Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia, and Michael Llodra, France, def. Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina, and Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Doubles Women Third Round

Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina (10), Russia, def. Alexa Glatch and Carly Gullickson, United States, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova (13), Russia, def. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (2), Spain, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, United States, and Nadia Petrova (8), Russia, def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Patty Schnyder (9), Switzerland, 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-3.

Cara Black, Zimbabwe, and Liezel Huber (1), United States, def. Olga Govortsova, Belarus, and Alla Kudryavtseva, Russia, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.

Junior Singles Boys First Round

Denis Kudla (16), United States, def. Radim Urbanek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-5.

Andrea Collarini (7), Argentina, def. Gonzalas Austin, United States, 6-1, 6-3.

Tennys Sandgren, United States, def. Daniel Berta (2), Sweden, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Jose Pereira, Brazil, def. Junior Ore, United States, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Dominik Schulz (15), Germany, def. Francis Alcantara, Philippines, 6-3, 6-4.

Federico Gaio, Italy, def. Mitchell Frank, United States, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Hiroyasu Ehara, Japan, def. Adrien Puget, France, 7-5, 6-1.

Stanislav Poplavskyy, Ukraine, def. Johannes Robert van Overbeek, United States, 6-4, 6-3.

Filip Horansky, Slovakia, def. Julen Uriguen (13), Guatemala, 6-3, 6-3.

Yuki Bhambri (1), India, def. Jordan Cox, United States, 6-2, 6-1.

Sandro Ehrat, Switzerland, def. Patrik Brydolf, Sweden, 6-2, 6-4.

Junior Singles Girls First Round

Ajla Tomljanovic (5), Croatia, def. Alexandra Cercone, United States, 6-1, 6-3.

Sloane Stephens (4), United States, def. Polina Leykina, Russia, 6-4, 6-2.

Julia Boserup, United States, def. Zheng Sai-Sai, China, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Yulia Putintseva, Russia, def. Anna-Lena Friedsam, Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Laura Robson, Britain, def. Ons Jabeur, Tunisia, 6-0, 6-1.

Tamaryn Hendler (12), Belgium, def. Jacqueline Cako, United States, 6-4, 6-2.

Jana Cepelova (14), Slovakia, def. Katarena Paliivets, Canada, 6-3, 7-5.

Heather Watson (11), Britain, def. Ksenia Kirillova, Russia, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1.