Djokovic gets US Open campaign underway with no-nonsense win over Albot

Serb Novak Djokovic, the second seed, won against qualifier Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second round of the US Open in New York on Monday night.

In doing so, he becomes the man to have won the most matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium in history.

“I wasn’t aware of it to be honest,” said Djokovic after being informed of the new record after his win over Albot.

“It’s the biggest stadium. Definitely the loudest we have in the history of our sport. The night sessions are the best in the world on Arthur Ashe. Ever since the roof was introduced it became even louder. Electric atmosphere. Incredible energy. Obviously with some new rules this year with the crowd able to move around, there are a lot of things happening on court.

“We’re clocking midnight right now. I love night sessions. Maybe not this late… but nevertheless it was great fun. I want to thank everybody for staying. I appreciate you.”

It was a fairly typical first-round match at a Grand Slam from Djokovic. The Serbian raised his level when necessary to break Albot on six occasions, but had plenty to work on at his end too. Of particular concern will be the 47 percent first serve rate and 40 unforced errors count, rust while Djokovic will want to get rid of before tougher matchups later on in New York.

Djokovic, ranked No 2, will face Serb Laslo Djere next.

New York (Grand Slam), other first-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Tommy Paul
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Li Tu
• Mattia Bellucci vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Hamad Medjedovic
• Zizou Bergs vs. Pavel Kotov
• Flavio Cobolli vs. James Duckworth
• Jaume Munar vs. Gabriel Diallo
• Christopher O’Connell vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Matteo Arnaldi vs. Zachary Svajda
• Corentin Moutet vs. Sebastian Korda
• Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. Hugo Gaston
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Botic van de Zandschulp
• Max Purcell vs. Aleksandar Vukic
• Arthur Fils vs. Learner Tien
• Alex De Minaur vs. Marcos Giron
• Dusan Lajovic vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Jannik Sinner vs. Mackenzie McDonald
• Matthew Forbes vs. Roman Safiullin
• Zhizhen Zhang vs. Jack Draper
• Daniel Evans vs. Karen Khachanov
• Otto Virtanen vs. Quentin Halys
• Fabio Fognini vs. Tomas Machac
• Borna Coric vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Nuno Borges vs. Federico Coria
• Eliot Spizzirri vs. Alex Michelsen
• Timofey Skatov vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Constant Lestienne vs. Jordan Thompson
• Mariano Navone vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Alejandro Tabilo vs. David Goffin
• Jakub Mensik vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Tristan Schoolkate vs. Taro Daniel
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Sumit Nagal: 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Arthur Cazaux beat Pablo Carreno Busta: 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
• Laslo Djere beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (20) beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
• Sebastian Baez (21) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-0, 7-6 (4)
• Brandon Nakashima beat Holger Rune (15): 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
• Rinky Hijikata beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8)
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Dominik Koepfer: 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (9) beat Kyrian Jacquet (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Alexandre Muller (WC) beat Adam Walton: 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4
• Gael Monfils beat Diego Schwartzman (Q): 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard: 6-4, 6-2, 6-3
• Miomir Kecmanovic beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 7-6 (2), 2-6, 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 ret.
• Francisco Cerundolo (29) beat Sebastian Ofner: 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
• Lorenzo Musetti (18) beat Reilly Opelka: 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
• Jiri Lehecka (32) beat Marton Fucsovics: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-0 ret.
• Taylor Fritz (12) beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (6) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild: 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Pedro Martinez Portero beat Maks Kasnikowski (Q): 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
• Alexei Popyrin (28) beat SoonWoo Kwon: 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (8) beat Yunchaokete Bu (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2
• Matteo Berrettini beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-3
• Ben Shelton (13) beat Dominic Thiem (WC): 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (17) beat Thiago Monteiro: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Juncheng Shang beat Alexander Bublik (27): 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Roberto Bautista Agut beat Luca Nardi: 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5)
• Mitchell Krueger (Q) beat Hugo Grenier (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
• Alexander Zverev (4) beat Maximilian Marterer (LL): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
• Francisco Comesana beat Dominic Stricker: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Roberto Carballes Baena beat Jan Choinski (Q): 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-3