New York – September 3 (Online): Novak Djokovic continued his pursuit of a calendar Grand Slam by reaching the US Open third round with a straight-set win over Dutch rival Tallon Griekspoor.
Djokovic, aiming to become only the sixth player to complete a clean sweep of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, won 6-2 6-3 6-2.
It was a solid display but the top seed was ruffled by a heckler at one point.
Alexander Zverev, among those expected to challenge the Serb, advanced with a rapid win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
In the quickest completed men’s singles match so far, 24-year-old fourth seed Zverev needed just one hour and 14 minutes to win 6-1 6-0 6-3 against the Spaniard and reach the third round.
While Djokovic could not match that speed, it was a similarly-dominant performance from the 20-time Grand Slam champion against 121st-ranked Griekspoor.
Djokovic, 34, showed signs of rustiness in his opening win over Danish teenager Holger Rune but was much improved in a solid performance on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
In fact, it was a spectator in the crowd who bothered the world number one as much as his opponent.
Leading 4-2 in the second set, Djokovic was disturbed by a shout as he lined up a smash at 30-30 and missing the overhead contributed to the three-time champion dropping his serve.
The Serb channelled his annoyance into an instant break in the next game, but implored the umpire to tell the offender to “shut up” at the beginning of the third set.
“I don’t mind he screams between the points, I don’t mind that. But he’s doing it every second point, during the point, just before I hit it,” Djokovic said.
There were no further flashpoints as Djokovic broke twice more in the final set to tee up a third-round meeting with Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
Nishikori, runner-up in 2014, won 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 2-6 6-3 against American Mackenzie McDonald to extend his remarkable winning record in deciding fifth sets to 27-7.
But his record against Djokovic is less impressive, having lost 17 of their 19 meetings and not beating the Serb since their US Open semi-final seven years ago.
In the third round he will play wildcard Jack Sock, a former world number eight now ranked 184th, after the American knocked out Kazakh 31st seed Alexander Bublik with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 4-6 6-3 win.
