Greg Rusedski defied the remnants of Hurricane Dennis and a few self-induced squalls of his own to sweep into the fourth round of the US Open in the early hours of this morning.

The British number two had been forced to wait around for much of a frustrating middle Sunday as rain storms and blustery winds battered Flushing Meadows.

But though Rusedski's form was at times as patchy as the weather he eventually triumphed 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-4 over battling American Chris Woodruff to keep alive his dream of making the final at this tournament for the second time in three years.

Elswhere, Todd Martin - Rusedski's next opponent - was able to do a quick-step, Venus Williams dodged danger and upset-maker Anke Huber managed to surge forward.

Only four matches could be completed during the day on the cement hardcourts, which get slippery with the slightest moisture, forcing players to shuffle back and forth to the locker rooms at the whim of the weather.

The third-seeded Williams lost a lopsided first set but stormed back after a 90-minute rain delay against a hobbled Mary Joe Fernandez to claim a 2-6 6-1 6-0 victory for a berth in the quarter-finals.

Huber, unseeded though a former top-10 player, upset 15th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France, the Australian Open runner-up, 6-4 6-4.

Martin waited two and a half hours to get started on a gloomy day but then put in an unexpectedly brief day's work as Magnus Larsson retired after the first set of their third-round match because of a knee injury.

The seventh-seeded Martin, the only men's player to post a result in the daylight, prevailed after taking the first set 6-3 as the unseeded Swede, a quarter-finalist the last two years, said he could not continue because of tendinitis in his left knee.

The only other result posted early was a 6-0 61 romp by 12th-seeded Austrian Barbara Schett over Russian Elena Likhovtseva. Schett will meet Venus Williams in the round of eight.

Williams, 19, looked in trouble against Fernandez after unsuccessfully trading groundstrokes with the veteran. But a slip by Fernandez stretching for a backhand from behind the baseline sent the veteran toppling to the court on a losing point that narrowed her lead to 6-2 0-2.

That was the last point before a rain delay of about 90 minutes. When the players returned, Fernandez had her right thigh taped because of a strained muscle and Williams turned on the power to win 10 of the last 11 games in a 2-6 6-1 6-0 victory.

"The court gets very slick, said Fernandez. My foot just slid. As soon as it starts to drizzle the court gets slippery. Right away you feel it. It was too slippery."

Williams said the turnaround came because she stepped up her attack.

"I know for a fact I could raise the level of my game when it counts. I've done it a lot before," said Williams, the 1997 Open runner-up.

Huber, who had the same long wait as Martin at the start, cooled her heels a further 15 minutes through a mid-match rain delay before completing a 6-4 6-4 victory over 15th-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France.

"I've never been in the quarters, so it's really nice. It's a great success for me. I'm happy," said the 24-year-old Huber, who became the first player to claim a spot in the last eight.

Martin said he did not doubt that Larsson was ailing, but was surprised by the suddenness of his retirement.

"I knew he had been having some trouble with his knee, said Martin. He just said it was painful and he had no strength. It was pretty obvious."

For his match with Rusedski, Woodruff had enlisted the considerable talents of tennis legend and compatriot John McEnroe as a practice partner in a bid to try to emulate the complexities of Rusedski's swinging left-handed serve.

But the thing which seemed most capable of taming Rusedski's famed delivery was the swirling breeze which constantly interrupted his balltoss.

Rusedski, however, began the match in trademark style. His first serve was a booming ace, his second unreturnable at a blistering 127mph. He broke his opponent in the 11th game and when he served out for the set in routine fashion and it appeared we were in for an uncomplicated evening.

But the second set began desperately for Rusedski. He failed to convert a break point on Woodruff's first service game. Then, with Woodruff hitting returns with increasing pace and precision, he lost his own service to allow the American to race into a 3-0 lead and eventually take the set.

A poor Woodruff volley in the sixth game allowed Rusedski to smash the winner on break point and the British number two was back in control. Confidence was suddenly back in his stride with crispness in his volleys and, though Woodruff had a break point in the ninth game, Rusedski served out to take the set for a two sets to one lead.

The fourth set was the most dramatic of all - both players losing their first service games, Rusedski receiving a warning for verbal obscenity at a changeover as his simmering frustrations surfaced, a quite breathtaking rat-a-tat sequence of volleys and then the crucial break of serve in the seventh game as Rusedski's rapier-like forehands did their damage.

The solid Rusedski serve, back in the groove just at the right time, did the rest.