Jannik Sinner extended his winning grand slam run on hard courts to 23 matches with a comfortable victory over Alexei Popyrin in Thursday's second round action.
The Italian is bidding to do the double-double on the surface having won back-to-back Australian Opens as well as the US Open 12 months ago.
He is undoubtedly the man to beat in New York, particularly after winning a first Wimbledon title, and a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over the dangerous Popyrin means he has dropped just 11 games in the first two rounds.
Australian Popyrin pulled off the win of his life in New York last summer, beating Novak Djokovic in the third round, but he scarcely managed to lay a glove on Sinner.
The world number one, who next faces 27th seed Denis Shapovalov, did not have his best serving day but he saved all five break points he faced and remains on track to become the first man since Roger Federer won five successive titles from 2004 to 2008 to retain the trophy.
Jacob Fearnley called out Alexander Zverev's tardiness after another defeat by the German at the US Open.
Fearnley took on the third seed for the third time this season having lost to him in Australia and Miami, and it was the same story as Zverev withstood a late salvo to claim a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory.
British number three Fearnley revealed afterwards that Zverev had kept him waiting for more than 10 minutes before the players walked to Louis Armstrong Stadium, saying: "I kind of expected it.
"It was the same in Australia and he’s always like, 'Oh, I’m sorry about that’. But he knows what he’s doing. It was the same with Novak (Djokovic) at Wimbledon.
"They take their time. I don’t know if it’s within the rules or not. I don’t really know what the rule is. If they call me, I show up. It is a little bit of time because you do a 20-minute warm-up and then you’re standing there."
Tenth seed Lorenzo Musetti swept aside veteran David Goffin 6-4 6-0 6-2 while Coleman Wong's 7-6 (5) 6-2 4-6 6-4 victory over Adam Walton made him the first man from Hong Kong to reach the third round at a grand slam.
