BIG servers Goran Ivanisevic and Mark Philippoussis blasted their way into the third round of the US Open tennis championships at Flushing Meadow, New York, yesterday.

Ivanisevic, the fourth seed, fired 16 aces past Scott Draper, recovering from a first set tiebreak loss to beat the Australian 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Ivanisevic started the year as the hottest player on the ATP Tour, but the US hard court season has left him still seeking his first title in the United States.

Philippoussis fired 24 aces, and at least, as many service winners, past Andre Olhovskiy for a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 second round victory.

Philippoussis, who beat fellow Australian Mark Woodforde in the first round, said he had been working with coach Peter McNamara on developing a game plan and sticking to it.

"Before, I was just going into the court to play my own game, that was it. I didn't really have a game plan, sort of hit or miss. This time I'm playing a lot smarter."

Not that he needed clever tactics against Olhovskiy, who is nursing a knee injury suffered in doubles earlier this week.

"I wasn't moving good today because of my knee," he said. "I couldn't make normal motion for my serve. Normally I serve much better. If I keep my serve, he will not serve like he did today."

Tim Henman became the first British player to reach the third round in nine years, after he swept past American Doug Flach 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, despite dropping his serve once in each of the three sets.

Meanwhile, with an Olympic gold medal in her pocket followed by a win over Steffi Graf en route to her most prestigious WTA Tour title so far, Lindsay Davenport is starting to feel like a Grand Slam contender.

Davenport, seeded eighth, reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadow yesterday with a 6-0, 6-3 win over French 17 year old Anne Gaelle Sidot.

"I've definitely put myself in the best chance that I ever have to win a Grand Slam," she said. "I'm in the best shape I've ever been in, and playing well.

"It's exciting for me, because I'm at a stage where it's the best I've been so far. I can still get better, which is even more exciting.

"When this tournament is over, win or lose, I can say. `OK, I came well prepared, did the best that I could'."

Davenport said she hoped to conquer the kind of second set lapses that affected her against Sidot and her previous opponent Henrietta Nagyova of Slovakia.

She knows from experience that they will not be forgiven against players like Graf, the top seed and defending champion, second seeded Monica Seles and third seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

"The second week is another story," she said. "I have to raise my game a couple of notches more.

Davenport says her new found confidence is not so much a direct result of her Olympic victory, as of the work that made the gold medal possible.

"Before, I had a lot of doubts about certain shots in my game, so I went back to my coach and said: `Listen, I don't feel comfortable hitting this shot.'

"We worked and worked and worked on it. It makes you stronger, that I've practiced this shot, I know I can hit it when it gets close."

Davenport said she was less likely to make stress induced mistakes since she has had more practice in crunch situations.

"Before, I would just make an error when it got close, get nervous and make a dumb shot," she said. "I think I've gotten much better at not doing that.

"The more times you have break points against Steffi or Monica, any of the top players, the better you are able to handle them.

Davenport, naturally self deprecating, still hesitates to call herself a favourite for the title.

"I think there's the clear cut favourites, the favourites, then those with a chance.