Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the first high-profile casualty in the men’s event at the US Open when he was upended 6-4 1-6 6-1 6-3 by Slovakian Martin Klizan in the second round yesterday.

The fifth seed produced a strangely lacklustre display as he was outplayed by the world number 52 and suffered his earliest-ever US Open exit.

The left-handed Klizan had never been beyond the second round at a grand slam event before but he surprised Tsonga with some inspired tennis.

Tsonga rallied from 4-1 down in the fourth set to 4-3 but the 23-year-old Klizan held his nerve to seal the biggest victory of his career.

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic reached the third round, but admitted she needs to take painkillers every morning to see her through the season’s last Grand Slam tournament.

The 12th-seeded Serb, who has never got beyond the fourth round in New York, made the last 32 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.

But the 2008 French Open champion is still bothered by a right foot injury which forced her out of the Cincinnati tournament on the eve of the US Open.

“I still have to take a handful of pills every morning,” she said.

“It was a little bit unfortunate but it’s part of the sport. We play so much and changing surfaces and continents. My foot has been healing and at the moment I am feeling healthy.”

Ivanovic goes on to face either America’s Sloane Stephens or German qualifier Tatjana Malek for a place in the last 16.

Fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, seeded 30th and the 2008 runner-up, also made the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino.

She next meets either second seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the Wimbledon runner-up, or Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

Russian 14th seed Maria Kirilenko, watched by ice hockey superstar boy friend Alex Ovechkin, saw off Hungarian 33-year-old player Greta Arn 6-3, 6-2.

Slovakian 13th seed Dominika Cibulkova, a quarter-finalist in 2010, edged Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3).