New York (AFP)

Protected from the rain by the roof of the court Arthur-Ashe, Roger Federer and Karolina Pliskova qualified without shining Wednesday for the 3rd round of the US Open, while waiting in the evening Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.

The World No.3 dropped another set before finding his pace and finally defeating Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (99) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

After the rather dry loss of the first set, "I tried to make fewer mistakes, at the beginning and end of the second set, there were tense moments, but I held and I'm happy to pass ", said the Swiss, record holder of 5 titles at Flushing Meadows as Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras.

He had already yielded the first round in the first round against the Indian Sumit Nagal (190 and qualifying).

In the next round, he will face Frenchman Lucas Pouille (27th) or the British Daniel Evans (58th).

Japan's Kei Nishikori, seventh in the world, qualified by defeating American Bradley Klahn (108) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

"It was a good match and I can not wait to play the next one," said the 2014 finalist who will face Cristian Garin (32) or Alex de Minaur (38) for a place in the round of 16. Last year, Nishikori was eliminated in half.

The first qualifier of the day was against all odds Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (78th), initially scheduled late afternoon on the court Louis-Armstrong, also protected by a retractable roof.

- Coric package -

Dimitrov, who had not reached the third round at Flushing Meadows since 2016, when he was eliminated in the round of 16, benefited from the package in the morning of his Croatian opponent Borna Coric (23rd), victim of back pain.

In the women's competition, the Czech Karolina Pliskova, 3rd in the world, was the first qualifier of the day. She eliminated Georgia's Mariam Bolkvadze, who was 202th in qualifying, 6-1, 6-4.

Pliskova, who can hope to become N.1 worldwide after the last round of the Grand Slam 2019, will face Ons Jabeur (62) or Aliaksandra Sasnovich (46) for a place in the 8th finals. She remains in two consecutive quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows.

While Serena Williams is expected at the end of the day on the Arthur-Ashe against Catherine McNally (121st and qualifying result), her sister Venus was eliminated in the afternoon by the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina (5th) 6-4 , 6-4.

Serbian title-holder Novak Djokovic (N.1 World) will open the night session against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero (56th).

Five French were expected Wednesday, but the duel between Kristina Mladenovic and Fiona Ferro, as well as the Apulia-Evans, the match between Jeremy Chardy and Stan Wawrinka and that between Gregory Barrere and David Goffin were all scheduled on courts without roof. But at 16:45 (22:45 French) the rain did not seem determined to let the players fight.

© 2019 AFP