NEW YORK • Novak Djokovic reached the U.S. Open's fourth round for the fourth consecutive year, eliminating American wild card James Blake in straight sets Saturday night.

The third-seeded Djokovic beat Blake 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in a wind-whipped Arthur Ashe Stadium. Serbia's Djokovic made only 13 unforced errors — 18 fewer than Blake.

"It's a big mental struggle, when you have such a strong wind, to find a way how to try to play good tennis," Djokovic said, "especially if you have somebody across the net who is so aggressive, taking everything early and playing a risky game."

In the fourth round, Djokovic will face another American, 19th-seeded Mardy Fish, who edged Arnaud Clement of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

After having knee surgery in September 2009, Fish set about changing his diet and trimming his body, and he's lost more than 30 pounds to get down to about 170.

"He's playing maybe his best tennis at this moment," Djokovic said. "He's moving really well. He's serving as good as he served always. He has a lot of talent. He's recognizing the moment, coming to the net. He has a lot of variety in the game. I guess I have to be on the top of my game to be able to win."

Blake is a two-time quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows, but not since 2006. Once ranked in the top five, the 30-year-old Blake is now 108th after a series of injuries and poor results, and he said he plans to take the next six weeks off.

On the women's side, 18-year-old American Beatrice Capra failed to win a game in her third-round match — overwhelmed by the stage, the circumstances, the 25 mph wind that knocked the neon lime visor off her head during a point, and — most of all — a solid Maria Sharapova.

Instead, 2006 U.S. Open champion Sharapova set up a fourth-round showdown with No. 1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki by blanking the 371st-ranked Capra 6-0, 6-0.

"This was a new day," said Sharapova, the first woman to win love and love at the Open in the third round or later since Martina Navratilova did it in the 1989 quarterfinals.

Actually, other than whiffing on one serve return, Sharapova handled the conditions rather well; others did not. Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, shanked one serve straight up in the air off the top of her racket frame and finished with 41 unforced errors in a 6-2, 7-6 (1) loss to No. 31 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

"You get frustrated with the wind," Jankovic said, "because you want to hit balls in (a) certain direction, and they go everywhere except where you want them to go."

There were no such surprises in earlier men's action. Five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer reached the fourth round by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; No. 5 Robin Soderling, twice a French Open finalist, defeated Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-3, 6-3; No. 21 Albert Montanes advanced when qualifier Ken Nishikori quit in the second set with a groin injury, two days after winning a grueling five-setter; and No. 17 Gael Monfils picked up a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4 win over Janko Tipsarevic, who knocked off 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the second round.

Asked to describe the weather, Monfils said: "Awful. I mean, for me: awful."