Coming off a tough three-setter against Serena Williams, the top-seeded Mauresmo had little trouble against No. 12 Dinara Safina. It took only 62 minutes to finish off a 6-2, 6-3 victory.

``It's great the way it went _ not spend too much time on the court,'' Mauresmo said.

Mauresmo won the Australian Open and Wimbledon and is trying to become the first woman to take three Grand Slam events in the same year since Williams in 2002.

A day after rain prevented all but one match from being completed, the sun came out and every player except Jelena Jankovic was in action. The suspended and postponed matches have compressed the playing time for many, setting up back-to-back matches.

``Recovery is not so great,'' No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko said after beating Andy Murray.

Top-seeded Roger Federer, No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 5 James Blake, No. 9 Andy Roddick and No. 15 Lleyton Hewitt also were scheduled to play.

On the women's side, No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne took on No. 10 Lindsay Davenport. Also, No. 3 Maria Sharapova faced No. 27 Tatiana Golovin, with the winner playing Mauresmo.

Davydenko and the No. 17 Murray played three sets Tuesday before getting sent home. They started up around 11 a.m. EDT. Wednesday and Davydenko won six straight games for a 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 victory that put him into the quarter-finals.

``I normally sleep late and wake up late,'' Murray said. ``So it was a bit different for me going to sleep at 10 and getting up early.''

At 19, Murray enjoyed quite a season, beating Roddick at Wimbledon and last month ending Federer's 55-match North American winning streak.

But when his match against Davydenko resumed, Murray had three double-faults in the first game and could not find his touch.

Tommy Haas reached the quarters with a 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over frequent practice partner Marat Safin.

``It's tough to beat a friend,'' Haas said. ``It's difficult because you try to keep your emotions a little bit inside.

``You don't want to get in his face too much.''

Known for his sometimes bizarre behaviour, Safin slammed his racket to the ground with two hands after losing a point. On Tuesday, the former U.S. Open champion told the chair umpire that replays on the scoreboard were bothering him.

Safin is the older sister of Safina, who also likes to throw her racket. Marat has talked to Dinara about that habit.

``If I am doing it too much, he was telling me like, `Listen, this is too much,'' she said. ``It's OK if you hit it once, but not every game going.''

Unlike at most tournaments, men play best-of-five-sets matches throughout Grand Slams, benefitting from the days of rest built into a two-week schedule. But the rain has been steadily erasing those breaks, and if someone like Blake is going to make a run to the final, he would have to play four matches in five days.

There have been six day or night sessions cancelled so far, the same number of washouts for the four previous U.S. Opens combined.