NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - ⁠Daniil Medvedev flew into the third round after an avian disruption at the U.S. ⁠Open on Wednesday, as American Jessica Pegula crushed compatriot Sofia Kenin and Ben Shelton ‌overcame Hubert Hurkacz on anotherrainswept day.

Medvedev, the 2021 winner, beat U.S. wildcard Sebastian Gorzny 6-1 6-3 7-5 to start the action at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where two birds landing on the net became the biggest source of frustration for the ​mercurial Russian.

The third-ranked Pegula needed just 56 minutes to dismantle ⁠2020 Australian Open winnerKenin 6-3 6-1 in ⁠the first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium to set up a meeting with the 2021 runner-up, ⁠CanadianLeylah ‌Fernandez.

"To be out of there in under an hour, it doesn't always happen. So I think I'm just going to take that one and run," said Pegula, the runner-up in ⁠2024.

Eighth seed Ben Shelton had a more difficult time, beating ​Poland's HubertHurkacz 6-3 5-7 7-6(3) ‌7-5, as he relied on the energy of the home crowd to power through.

The Montreal ⁠winner has emerged ​as one of the brightest hopes of ending a 23-year U.S. men's major drought in a diminished field missing injured world number one Jannik Sinner.

It was not all good news for the Americans, however, as the ⁠2017 champion Sloane Stephens exited against Ukraine's 11th seed Marta ​Kostyuk in a 6-1 7-5 defeat.

SABALENKA, ALCARAZ HIGHLIGHT EVENING PROGRAMME

The first round of the tournament spilled over into a fourth day on the outer courts, after relentless rain on Tuesday disrupted the schedule and ⁠rain forced another brief delay on Wednesday.

Opening the action on the Grandstand court, Alex Michelsen upset fellow American and 16th seed Brandon Nakashima 6-3 6-4 6-4 in their second-round match.

Australian sixth seed Alexde Minaur, whose Tuesday night match on Grandstand was postponed, got his opener underway against Italian qualifier AndreaGuerrieri ​on Court 11.

Fans can look forward to a stellar eveningprogramme on ⁠Ashe, where Aryna Sabalenka continues her quest for a third straight title against qualifier Polina Iatcenko, while ​Carlos Alcaraz plays Portugal's Jaime Faria in his title defence.

American fan ‌favourite Frances Tiafoe kicks off the night session ​on Armstrong against Japan's Rei Sakamoto, followed by a clash between Czech Wimbledon champion LindaNoskova and Thailand's Lanlana Tararudee.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)