JOIN USDjokovic, Serena stamp authority
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and three-times winner Serena Williams each dropped just two games against bewildered opponents at the US Open on Tuesday, leading a procession of top seeds into the second round of the year's final Grand Slam.
Joining Djokovic in the winner's circle at Flushing Meadows were number five Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, number six Tomas Berdych, and former champion Andy Roddick, the 20th seed.
On the women's side, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki was a first round casualty while second seed Agnieszka Radwanska and number six Angelique Kerber advanced easily.
Djokovic took just an hour and 13 minutes to blitz Italy's Paolo Lorenzi 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 in his first-round match under the lights on a cool evening at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Fourth-seeded Williams followed Djokovic on the court and produced a 6-1, 6-1 rout of 75th-ranked American Coco Vandeweghe, who committed 22 errors and produced only nine winners against the 30-year-old, 14-times Grand Slam champion.
World number two Radwanska of Poland showed no signs of a shoulder injury that forced her out of the New Haven tournament last week as she routed 91st-ranked Nina Bratchikova 6-1, 6-1.
Wozniacki bounced
Hampered by a knee problem, eighth-seeded Wozniacki never broke the serve of world number 96 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and lost 2-6, 2-6.
Venus Williams overpowered Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1 and in the process clocked the fastest women's serve of the tournament to date at 124 mph (199 kph).
Like Venus, Roddick is trying to re-capture the form that saw him win the US Open in 2003.
On Tuesday, he cruised past 21-year-old American qualifier Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.