It is not often Novak Djokovic looks nonplussed on a tennis court but, early in the second set of his 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Bernabé Zapata Miralles of Spain, he turned to his box with an air of bewilderment. The chair umpire, Aurélie Tourte, had announced the wrong score, awarding Djokovic an unearned break. Soon enough, there were smiles all round as she recognised her mistake and apologised to the crowd. In truth, though, she need hardly have bothered: three points later, Djokovic ran Zapata Miralles from pillar to post to force an error and snatch the game anyway.
It was a moment that encapsulated the contest. Zapata Miralles, a livewire 26-year-old ranked 76 in the world, gave a fine account of himself, particularly in the early stages. Not afraid to slug it out with Djokovic from the baseline, the Spaniard held his own admirably. He won his opening service game to love, immediately carved out a couple of break points, and displayed a useful knack for producing line-clipping forehand winners when he most needed them. Like Tourte, however, Zapata Miralles was merely delaying the inevitable.
The challenge for any player with aspirations of making a name for himself in Djokovic’s section of the draw is that virtuosity is merely a starting point. Sustained excellence is required to dent the Serb’s armour, and even that may not be enough, as Carlos Alcaraz discovered 10 days ago in Cincinnati, where a seemingly certain victory was prised from his grasp. Zapata Miralles did what he could, yet he knew what he was up against. He described Djokovic as a machine before the match, and proof of that appraisal was there in the numbers: six break points converted, none conceded, 35 winners to Zapata Miralles’s 15, and all in brutal humidity.
“Conditions were quite humid,” said Djokovic. “I said it after [my] first-round match, there’s very little air, very little breeze you can feel on the court. I think it affected both of us.
“He started off solid. We had some rallies. We had to reach out for the towel basically after each one of those longer rallies, so it took a bit more time and effort. But one break was enough. Then, after that, [in the] second set I played really good.
“I ended up playing really well. I’m pleased with the way I’m feeling, playing on the court. [It] can always be better, but [in the] first two rounds I didn’t spend too much time on the court and played very solid. Hopefully I can keep building.”
Having reclaimed the world No 1 ranking from Alcaraz on Monday with his opening-round demolition of Alexandre Muller, Djokovic is slowly gathering momentum in his quest for a fourth title. The 23-time grand slam champion will play Laslo Djere, a fellow Serb ranked 38 in the world, in the next round. Like Zapata Miralles, Djere does his best work on clay, where he came within two points of defeating Djokovic last year in Belgrade. Djokovic offered a warm appraisal of Djere’s qualities but, in reality, potential threats to his progress are far from obvious. Seeds have fallen like skittles in the bottom quarter of the draw, where Christopher Eubanks, Francisco Cerundolo, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti, who defeated Djokovic in Monte Carlo earlier this year, have all been beaten.
Holger Rune, seeded fourth and projected to meet Djokovic in the semi-finals, was bundled out in the opening round, and on Wednesday Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Serb’s anticipated quarter-final opponent, also joined the ranks of the vanquished, falling in five sets to Dominic Stricker, a 21-year-old Swiss qualifier ranked 128. The Greek, seeded seventh, has yet to advance beyond the third round at Flushing Meadows in seven visits.
“I struggled with my movement today a lot, and it was the main issue with my performance,” said Tsitsipas, who served for the match in the fourth set before Stricker prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
“Usually I’m much tougher mentally, and I have shown it by coming back. Even though sometimes I get broken serving for the match, I still find ways in the tiebreaker or perhaps in the fifth set. Today, that was not the case. I was not able to bounce back after it, not as strong.”
There were no such problems for Iga Swiatek, the top seed and defending champion, who defeated Daria Saville of Australia 6-3, 6-4. Coco Gauff, the American sixth seed, won a battle of teenage prodigies against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.