Nadal cruises to second round of US Open

30 August 2016 - 09:30 By AFP and Reuters

Fourth seed Rafael Nadal made light work of Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin to make the US Open second round yesterday. Nadal, the 2010 and 2013 champion, won 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 and will face Italian veteran Andreas Seppi for a place in the last 32.Earlier yesterday, former champion Marin Cilic, a popular pick to make a deep run in the year's final grand slam, opened his campaign with a 6-4 7-5 6-1 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.The Croatian seventh seed, fresh off a win over world No 2 Andy Murray in the Cincinnati final, eased past the world No 108."It's my second home, I feel great here," said Cilic, who won his only grand slam title here two years ago. "My best memories come from here in 2014. Winning Cincinnati shows me I am in good form but it's an extremely tough tournament. There are a lot of contenders for the title so I will take it step by step."Cilic now plays either Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine or Gastao Elias of Portugal in round two. In another match, 13th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet was upended 6-2 6-2 6-3 by Britain's world No 84 Kyle Edmund.Gasquet, who has reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows four times, was outplayed, and lasted just one hour, 41 minutes.Edmund will play Lukas Lacko of Slovakia or US wild card Ernesto Escobedo in the second round. ..

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