WHAT HAPPENED: Roger Federer booked a highly anticipated third-round matchup against Nick Kyrgios on Thursday afternoon with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire.
While the straight-sets scoreline somewhat flatters the Swiss, there can be no doubt that he deserved victory against the mercurial Frenchman, who simply ran out of ideas on how to throw Federer off his rhythm.
There weren't too many antics from Paire—a player known for being a little combustible at times—with the exception of an unnecessary tweener lob, and while he didn't do too many things wrong, he was just always one half step behind the No. 2 seed.
A Paire double fault at 5-5, 30-30 gave Federer a set point in the first set that he converted with a forehand down the line, and another double fault in a loose service game at 2-2 in the second set proved to be the sole difference in a close middle frame.
Paire started getting more visibly frustrated as the match passed the hour mark, screaming at nobody in particular. After missing one passing shot, Paire almost hit himself in the face with his racquet, slamming it into the concrete, his full beard offering the only protection between stick and chin.
Federer constantly had Paire on the run, emphasized by a point with Federer serving for the second set. The Frenchman was left scrambling to his left, slipping inside the doubles alley and left helpless to watch, flat on his stomach with his legs bent at the knees, as the five-time US Open champion hit into the open court.
As well as Paire played, he was ultimately left as a bystander to Federer's brilliance, despite his best efforts to rein in the Swiss.
A poor service game at 1-1 in the third set—three double faults and a ball kicked to the back wall on the volley—proved to sap the last of Paire's resistance. Even though he did get one break back, Federer led from the front with relative ease and wrapped up the match on his first chance.
In all, Federer broke five times in nine tries, won almost three-quarters of the points when he landed his first serve and saved four of the six break points Paire crafted. Thirty-nine errors highlighted the fact that Federer didn't play the cleanest game of his career, but it was still plenty efficient enough to prevail in a tick under two hours.
WHAT IT MEANS: Federer is into the third round of the US Open for the 18th consecutive time in his career as he goes in search of his 21st Grand Slam men's singles title. The 37-year-old has never lost in the first or second round in New York, his only defeat before the fourth round coming in his main-draw debut at Flushing Meadows in 2000.
Federer will play Australian Kyrgios in the third round on Saturday. The Swiss has won two of three meetings against the world No. 30, prevailing in the Stuttgart semifinals earlier this year and in the Miami semis in 2017. Kyrgios' lone win came on the clay of Madrid in 2015, when the Aussie rallied from a set down to win in three.
MATCH POINT: Paire tried his best to mix things up to give Federer as many different looks as he could, but he had limited success when venturing to the net. Paire won just 17 of 37 points when he came forward, his approach shots not doing nearly enough damage against Federer, who was able to pick off his target seemingly at will.
