Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka advance at the US Open

World number one men's tennis player Novak Djokovic continued his fabulous performance on Monday night at the US Open. He went on to win 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 against Damir Dzumhur. In the process, the 33-year old Serbian registered his 24th win in 2020 with no losses to date.

Interestingly, all of Djokovic's victories this year have come on hard courts. Last week, the Serbian earned his 35th ATP Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open. Currently, he shares the record for most Masters 1000 titles with Rafael Nadal.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner also went further clear of Roger Federer and Nadal in the 'Big Titles' battle with a 57th trophy at that level. It is expected that the 33-year old could eventually increase the gap further if he wins his 18th Grand Slam title in New York on September 13. Nadal and Federer both have won 54 big titles.

According to the ATP Tour's official website, after the match, Djokovic said, "I was pleased to close out the second set and then stepped it up [by] a couple of levels. I did struggle a bit [with] the semi-finals and final back to back [last week], but I had 48 hours. Not so much [time], but still enough time to recover. The good thing about a Slam is that you only play every two days, so you have at least one day of rest and recovery. I'm going to try to use that as much as I can and gather all my energy and strength for the next one."

Djokovic has won the US Open on three previous occasions, in 2011, 2015, and 2018. In the next round, his opponent will be Kyle Edmund, who in turn defeated Alexander Bublik 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-0.

The Joker holds a 5-1 record over Edmund in their ATP head-to-head tally, which includes the Serbian's fourth-round victory at the 2016 US Open.

In the women's game, Naomi Osaka won a hard-fought 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 against her Japanese counterpart Misaki Doi. Osaka continued highlighting issues of racial injustice on her way to the second round of the US Open.

Last week in the Western & Southern Open, Osaka pulled out of the semi-final in solidarity with protests against the Jacob Blake shooting. On Monday night, she appeared on the court, wearing a face mask bearing the name of Breonna Taylor, whom the police shot dead in Louisville in March.

In an interview after the match, Osaka revealed that she plans to wear a mask bearing the name of a different victim for each round that she plays in this year's tournament.