NEW YORK – Fans in the Big Apple have been treated to some great tennis so far at the US Open. There have been some upsets, a few marathon matches and just some all-around quality matchups. Another compelling storyline this week, though, has been the outstanding play of Venus Williams, giving those in attendance a throwback to when she was ranked the top player in the world. In other words, the veteran has been vintage thus far.

After going the distance with Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova in the opening round, Venus needed just 77 minutes to get past Germany's Julia Goerges to advance to round number three.

En route to defeating Goerges 6-2, 6-3, Venus earned 78 percent of her first serve points and a perfect 100 percent on net points.

While she hasn't been the world's top seed in quite some time, Venus's play has not wavered. After all, the 36-year-old is still ranked No. 6 in the world and it showed on Thursday as she was in control from start to finish, looking much more confident and in stride than she did against Kozlova earlier in the week.

Even so, Venus is considered a bit of a dark horse in Flushing Meadows this week, which has given her the perfect opportunity to make some noise as she looks to make a run for her first Grand Slam title since 2008.

Waiting for Venus in the third round will be another German -World No. 27 Laura Siegemund - who defeated American Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday. Like Goerges, Siegemund will be a first-time opponent for Venus.

On the men's side, few storylines this week have been as fascinating as that of American Jared Donaldson.

Donaldson raised quite a few eyebrows when he qualified for this year's US Open as a 19-year-old. But for those who thought the Rhode Islander would be content with simply qualifying, they would soon realize that they would be mistaken.

After pulling off an upset of No. 12 David Goffin in the opening round, Donaldson showed up on Thursday hoping to prove that his opening-round victory wasn't a fluke. He did just that, defeating veteran Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the third round.

On paper, aces and winners were fairly even, as were double faults and unforced errors. On the court, though, Donaldson proved that he was superior on this day, winning 74 percent of his first serves while, overall, controlling the tempo of the match.

Thursday was the first time Donaldson faced the 32-year-old Troicki and he made the most of it as he advances to the next round where he will face veteran Ivo Karlovic, who defeated American Donald Young 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-4 late Thursday night.

For Donaldson, this will arguably be his toughest test to date as he has never faced the towering Croatian before.

Despite being near the end of his career at 37, Karlovic is no pushover. Ranked No. 23 in the world, the 6-foot-11 veteran opened this week's tournament by setting a US Open record with 61 aces en route to defeating Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-5 on Tuesday.

On Thursday night, while he didn't set any additional records, he was nonetheless dominant against Donald Young, firing 24 aces, 52 winners and winning 78 percent of his first serves to advance.

Despite Karlovic's victory, though, his 45 unforced errors on Thursday may be a cause of concern. We will find out if that will be the case in the third round when he faces Jared Donaldson.