The world No 1, bidding for a fourth Flushing Meadows title
and to become the first man to complete the calendar Grand Slam in 52 years,
dropped the second set against the spirited Rune.
However, the youngster began cramping up in the third and
was in no fit state to mount a further challenge as Djokovic completed a 6-1
6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-1 victory.
"I got to say it's never nice to finish a match like
that. Holger deserves a big round of applause. It's unfortunate," said
Djokovic.
"I was trying to feel the ball out there. It wasn't the
best of my performance but he played well and I didn't serve well in the
decisive moments of the second set. After that it's difficult to talk about the
match, he couldn't move much.
"It happened to me when I was younger. These things
happen. You could see he struggled a lot and I feel for him. I'm sure we'll see
a lot of him in the future."
Djokovic, 34, was playing his first match since missing out
on a bronze medal at the Olympics, and there was no initial sign of rust as he
immediately broke Rune's serve and raced away with the first set in 26 minutes.
However, Rune broke Djokovic to love at the start of the
second and had the Serbian rattled as he took the tie-break to level the match.
It was a curious set from Djokovic, with five double faults
and 15 unforced errors telling its own story.
But while the Arthur Ashe crowd sensed a seismic upset,
Rune's fitness began to let him down, and the final set and a half was tough to
watch.
Earlier Alexander Zverev, who denied Djokovic the chance of
a Golden Slam when he beat him at the Olympics on his way to the gold medal, is
safely through after beating American veteran Sam Querrey 6-4 7-5 6-2.
The German fourth seed was runner-up at Flushing Meadows
last year and is looking for a first Grand Slam title.
But he admitted "If a guy wins three majors in the same
year and then is at the US Open, you have to give him the favourite card.
Because if not now, then when? He's won three majors.
"To be honest, I think I was the first person to beat
him on a hard court or grass court this season, and I was also the only person
to beat him at a very, very big event this year.
"Everything else he's won. I mean, yeah, he's the
favourite. No question about that. But I think other guys are very hungry.
"I have been playing good. I've won two tournaments,
I'm on a 12-match winning streak.
"I hope I can keep the level up and maybe even play
better, because to beat Novak here is going to be an extremely difficult
task."
Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini and semi-finalist
Denis Shapovalov got straight-sets wins under their belts.
Italian Berrettini needed two tie-breaks on his way to
beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, winning 6-3 in the third set.
Canadian Shapovalov raced into the second round with a 6-2
6-2 6-3 victory over Federico Delbonis of Argentina in just one hour and 49
minutes.
Ninth seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who beat Djokovic in the
Olympic bronze medal match, was a surprise first-round casualty, losing a
deciding set tie-break against American Maxime Cressy.
Fellow seeds Karen Khachanov, David Goffin, Fabio Fognini
and Lorenzo Sonego also fell by the wayside.
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