NOVAK DJOKOVIC, the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player, defeated his first-round opponent, Danish qualifier Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune, in four relatively breezy sets — 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 — Tuesday evening, and said afterwards that it wasn’t one of his best performances.

“He played well in the second set when it mattered,” Djokovic said in an on-court interview. “I didn’t serve well in the decisive moments.”

Regardless of his own personal standards, Djokovic retired Rune soundly and quickly, winning the last two sets in just 58 minutes, but found trouble in the second set. The 18-year-old Rune, who is ranked No. 145 and was making his Grand Slam main draw debut, took an early 3-0 lead in the second set, which Djokovic ultimately lost in a tiebreaker. The crowd started chanting “RUNE” during the set and continued throughout the rest of the match.

“I didn’t know what they were chanting honestly,” Djokovic said in a post-match press conference. “I thought they were booing.”

Rune began to struggle with cramping in the third set and continued to struggle with it throughout the rest of the match. He was visited by a trainer multiple times in the last two sets and Djokovic took advantage of his opponent’s lack of mobility, hitting 55 winners for the match, and 29 in the last two sets.

“I’m pleased with the way I finished the match,” Djokovic said. “Again, it was not a fair battle, so to say, on the court with his unfortunate injury and cramping.

“If you have cramps like this, that is creating such a hindrance to your game, you’re unable to move, unfortunately the rule is such that you can’t get any medical timeout for cramps.”

Tuesday night marked just the first step in Djokovic’s quest to win a calendar Grand Slam. The three-time U.S. Open champion is now 16-0 in U.S. Open first-round matches. In his second-round match, Djokovic will play Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, who is ranked No. 121 in the world, for the first time. He’s six matches away from becoming the first tennis player to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam in singles since Steffi Graf in 1988, and the first man to do it since Rod Laver in 1969.

Meanwhile, Ash Barty, back at the U.S. Open after missing the 2020 tournament, advanced to Round 2 after defeating Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 7-6 (9).

Barty, who is the No. 1 women’s seed at the U.S. Open and ranked No. 1 in the world, came to Flushing Meadows ready to fight. Her attack was sharp and relentless, and showed that she’s not taking anything for granted. (SD-Agencies)