NEW YORK, Aug 31: Roger Federer set-up a US Open third round clash against Nick Kyrgios who found himself at the centre of an impartiality row after an umpire climbed down from his chair to tell him: �I want to help you�.
Second seed and five-time champion Federer, 37, made it 18 wins in 18 second round appearances in New York by seeing off error-plagued Frenchman Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
Also going through were Wimbledon champion and two-time US Open winner Novak Djokovic as well as Marin Cilic, the champion in New York in 2014.
Kyrgios, 23, reached the third round by seeing off France�s Pierre-Hugues Herbert 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 6-0.
However, the match created a huge storm after respected umpire Mohamed Lahyani lost patience with the under-performing 30th seed and climbed down from his chair to tell the Australian, trailing by a set and 3-0, to try harder.
Kyrgios, however, played down the incident.
US Open chiefs didn�t help matters by claiming Lahyani was forced to step from his chair as the crowd noise meant that Kyrgios could not hear him.
Djokovic downed Tennys Sandgren of the United States 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2.
Next up for sixth seed Djokovic is either Serb compatriot Laslo Djere or Richard Gasquet of France.
German third seed Alexander Zverev made the third round for the first time in four tries after a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over French lucky loser Nicolas Mahut.
Seventh seed Cilic had a second successive easy day with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 rout of Polish qualifier Hubert Hurkacz. Cilic hit 34 winners and 13 aces in a quickfire 79-minute win.
Wimbledon women�s champion Angelique Kerber kept her bid for a second US Open title on track, outlasting Sweden�s Johanna Larsson 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Kerber will next take on 2010 quarter-finalist Dominika Cibulkova after the Slovakian beat Taiwan�s Hsieh Su-Wei 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4 despite being docked two points for returning late from a heat break. � AFP