Marin Cilic made a strong start in defence of his US Open title by powering past Argentine qualifier Guido Pella 6-3 7-6(3) 7-6(3) in Monday's opening day.
The ninth-seeded Cilic registered 13 aces and seven service winners in dismissing 94th-ranked Pella, who fought gamely and was broken only twice in the two-hour match at Louis Armstrong Stadium.
"I think Guido played really, really good today," Cilic said in an on-court interview. "He was causing me trouble with his serve. Today was a bit gusty so it was not easy to put my returns in, but I managed somehow and I was pretty happy with my serve."
The 26-year-old Croatian raised his game in the tiebreakers, to avoid the fate suffered by his 2014 finals' opponent, Japan's fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori..
Fourth seed Nishikori's hopes of making another magical run came to a quick end today as last year's runner-up fell at the first hurdle, falling 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6 (6) 6-4 to Paire.
The 26-year-old Paire, having collected his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Bastad, brought his good from to Flushing Meadows grinding out a three hour 14 minute victory to get the season's final grand slam off to a shocking start.
Japan's Nishikori, who turned in a marathon effort last year recording five set wins over Milos Raonic and Stan Wawrinki and a four set victor over world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, had looked ready to survive the opening test coming back from a wobbly opening set.
But after the 41st ranked Paire won the tiebreak he carried the momentum into the fifth set and recorded the decisive break to go up 3-2 before finishing off Nishikori with a thundering ace.
