World number one Jannik Sinner outclassed Alex Michelsen in straight sets to reach the third round of the US Open.
Italy’s Sinner beat the American 6-4 6-0 6-2 for his 50th victory of the year.
Australian Open champion Sinner is playing at his first tournament since it emerged he had been cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing positive for a banned substance earlier this year.
The 23-year-old will play Australian Chris O’Connell in the third round in New York.
Sinner had wobbled against American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round on Tuesday, losing the first set before rallying to triumph 2-6 6-2 6-1 6-2 at Flushing Meadows.
Against Michelsen on Thursday he had no such trouble. After coming out on top of a first set with several trades of breaks, Sinner did not look back, wrapping up a dominant victory in one hour 39 minutes.
“[I’m] very happy,” said Sinner, who beat world number 49 Michelsen in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters earlier this month.
“He’s a very tough opponent. We played each other in Cincinnati a week ago. I knew what to expect, he knew what to expect a little.”
Elsewhere, seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz was knocked out in a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 7-5 defeat by Australian Jordan Thompson.
It is the sixth successive year that Poland’s Hurkacz has exited the US Open in the second round.
Another seed soon fell as American 16th seed Seb Korda was beaten 6-4 6-2 6-4 by Czech Tomas Machac, who will play Belgium’s David Goffin in the third round.
There was better luck for Australian 10th seed Alex de Minaur, who defeated Finland’s Otto Virtanen 7-5 6-1 7-6 (7-3) to set up a third-round meeting with Britain’s Dan Evans or Argentine Mariano Navone.
American 14th seed Tommy Paul progressed after his Australian opponent Max Purcell retired in the third set when Paul was leading 7-5 6-0 1-0.
