Swinging freely under lights on the Old Grandstand court, Nick Kyrgios is off to a flying start at the 2016 US Open, downing Aljaz Bedene in straight sets. The 14^th-seeded Australian moved past the Brit, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in under two hours.

Having raced to a 5-1 lead in the opening set, the Canberra native saw his lead slip and appeared troubled when he took an injury time-out for treatment on his hip and lower back. Returning to the court to serve, he brought up two set points with a big off-forehand winner and closed out the set on his second opportunity with an ace, before leaving the court for more treatment.

Kyrgios downplayed the injury, citing his grueling training schedule leading into the US Open.

“I was nursing a little bit of an injury, and I how I responded was really well. I’m really happy,” Kyrgios said. “I thought I played solid, returned well, served well, hit the ball well. That was a pretty good all-around performance.

“It’s my hip. It’s fine at the moment. Obviously with the US Open I wanted to find my form, and I don’t know, just a bit of a load but it’s OK. It’s nothing to worry about.”

The 21 year old was rarely troubled from then on. He broke early in both second and third sets before bringing up match point with an unreturnable first serve. Kyrgios closed it out when Bedene dumped a forehand into the net, setting up a second-round meeting with Argentine Horacio Zeballos.

The Aussie relished the close confines of the Old Grandstand and said he enjoying the crowd interaction.

“I don’t really zone it out, to be honest,” Kyrgios said of the crowd interjections. “Some guy was like, ‘Change your clothes, that’s an awful outfit’.

“I was trying to come up with a comeback. I didn’t want to say anything. He was an old man. He got me this time.”

The chances of an all-Australian Top-20 showdown in the third round, however, were foiled. In a rematch of their US Open first-round match from last year, Bosnian Damir Dzumhur gained revenge on 17^th seed Bernard Tomic with a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(0) upset.

The World No. 72 in the Emirates ATP Rankings had never won a match at Flushing Meadows but bolted out of the blocks to take a two-set lead before Tomic could find his range. Dzumhur broke for 5-4 in the fourth set to serve for the match but the Aussie rallied, eventually forcing the tie-break.

A wild forehand return from Tomic slapped into the net gave Dzumhur a 5/0 lead before a double fault brought up six match points. Dzumhur took it on his first opportunity, leaving Tomic stranded with an off-backhand return winner.

Former champion Juan Martin del Potro has made a triumphant return to Flushing Meadows in his first match in New York since 2013. In an all-Argentine battle, del Potro – the 2009 US Open champion – posted a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3) first-round result over Diego Schwartzman on Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The 27 year old had not played at Flushing Meadows since falling in five sets to fellow former champion Lleyton Hewitt in the second round three years ago. He had undergone three surgeries on his left wrist since, having already endured a right wrist operation, which ruled him out of defending his US Open title in 2010.

Del Potro closed out the first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against his countryman with an ace, his 11^th of the match. He finished with 34 winners and 48 unforced errors to his opponent’s 28 winners and 38 unforced errors and broke five times.

A wild card outside the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, del Potro awaits the winner of American No. 19 seed Steve Johnson and Russian Evgeny Donskoy.

Moët & Chandon global ambassador Roger Federer joined talented Mexican chef Enrique Olvera for an exclusive dinner in New York City.

The pair cooked an intimate, three-course meal, paired with Moët & Chandon’s rosé champagnes, on the terrace of the World of McIntosh Townhouse in SoHo. Guests, who were treated to a cook-off between the Swiss and Chelf Olvera, included Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Wine Spectator, Forbes and USA Today.

Federer jokingly confessed to being a better eater than a chef, and lucky for him at the soiree they did just that! The party dined on Spelt esquites with corn and chile de arbol, ending the meal with a rich chocolate zucchini cake with mint-infused crème fraiche paired with Moët Nectar Impérial Rosé.

The new ATP Player Council elected World No. 1 Novak Djokovic as President and Kevin Anderson as Vice President last week, ahead of the start of the US Open.

“First of all, it’s an honour to be elected to be part of the Council,” said Djokovic on Monday, after his first-round victory over Jerzy Janowicz. “I gladly accepted it, because it’s a calling. It’s a responsibility.

“Of course, I’ll do my best to contribute to the evolution of this sport for the time being. The first Council meeting was very long, but productive. I was elected the President. Kevin Anderson is Vice President.

“On the Council we are all even. We are all equal. It was interesting to really sit there and hear and talk about, discuss, debate about different subjects that are ongoing right now. New ideas [and] new prospects.

“We are all in the same ship basically: the Council people, the [ATP] Board people, and, at the end of the day, tournaments as well… We are all part of the same governing body. We’re all part of the same organisation. We’re all on the same mission to make this sport better.”

Djokovic had previously been a member of the ATP Player Council in 2008-10.

Members elected by their peers to serve on the ATP Player Council through June 2018 are:

* 1-50 Singles: Kevin Anderson, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Gilles Simon
* 51-100 Singles: Yen-Hsun Lu, Rajeev Ram
* 1-100 Doubles: Jamie Murray, Bruno Soares
* At-Large: Marcelo Melo, Sergiy Stakhovsky
* Alumni: Colin Dowdeswell
* Coach: Claudio Pistolesi