Novak Djokovic advances to third round of US Open

New York: World No 1 Novak Djokovic moved five matches from completing the first men’s singles calendar-year Grand Slam in 52 years while Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and top-ranked Ashleigh Barty also rolled into the third round of the US Open on Friday.

The 34-year-old Serbian cruised past 121st-ranked Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to book a third-round date with 2014 US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori.

The Japanese made himself an obstacle in Djokovic’s path to history by outlasting American Mackenzie McDonald 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 2-6, 6-3, avenging a loss in last month’s Washington semi-finals.

Djokovic has a 17-2 career record against Nishikori, who last beat the Serbian star in the 2014 US Open semi-finals. Since then, Djokovic has won 16 in a row, most recently in the Tokyo Olympic quarter-finals.

Remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at least eight people and triggered a rare state of emergency for the city, flooding subways and turning roads into rivers. With abandoned cars scattered across streets near the National Tennis Center



and many highways shut down, only a smattering of spectators watched in a cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium as Barty dispatched Danish 18-year-old Clara Tauson 6-1, 7-5.

Barty send a backhand long to surrender a break in the 10th game of the second set while serving for the match but held her nerve, broke back and held again to win in 90 minutes.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Barty, seeking her third Grand Slam title, next plays American Shelby Rogers as she chases a sixth trophy of the year and first US Open quarter-finals spot.

German fourth seed Zverev downed 33rd-ranked Spanish left-hander Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-1, 6-0, 6-3. Zverev, last year’s US Open runner-up and a champion two weeks ago at Cincinnati, took only 74 minutes to advance.

German Oscar Otte, ranked 144th, became the fifth men’s qualifier to reach the third round by defeating 92nd-ranked American Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. There haven’t been so many qualifiers so deep at any Slam since six at the 2011 French Open and not at the US Open since five made it in 1984.