Rafael Nadal Takes Straight-Set Win over Dusan Lajovic in 1st Round of US Open

After encountering a little early trouble, top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Dusan Lajovic in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-2, 6-2, Tuesday in the first round of the 2017 U.S. Open.

Nadal struggled to deal with Lajovic's serve in the first set. The 27-year-old Serb won a relatively modest 55 percent of his points on first serve but prevailed on six of his seven second-service points. Through the first nine games of the set, he didn't allow a break-point opportunity.

Lajovic built a 5-3 lead before Nadal claimed the next three games to go ahead 6-5. Lajovic held serve in the 12th game to force a tiebreaker. He dropped the first three points of the tiebreak to climb into an early hole but eventually tied the final game at 6-6.

Nadal won the two following points to take the set. The U.S. Open showed a replay of the backhand slice from Lajovic that sailed long to give Nadal a 1-0 set advantage:

After what was a competitive opening set, Nadal had little trouble with Lajovic over the remaining two.

Lajovic finished with 14 winners and 38 unforced errors for the entire match. Only five of those winners came in the final two sets, while he committed 22 unforced errors over the same span.

Tennis magazine's Ed McGrogan noted it wasn't the first time Lajovic started fast and quickly faded against a marquee star at a Grand Slam event:

Nadal was far from his best.

He got 62 percent of his first serves in and won 67 percent of his first-service points, down from 69 percent and 72 percent, respectively, for the season, according to the ATP World Tour's official site. The two-time U.S. Open champion also committed 34 unforced errors.

Nadal did, however, collect 33 winners, with 10 coming from his forehand. He's at his best when he's able to successfully run around to his forehand at the baseline, and that's just what he was able to do against Lajovic.

That bodes well for his chances of at least reaching his first U.S. Open quarterfinal since last winning the tournament in 2013.

Nadal will play either Taro Daniel or Tommy Paul in the second round. He has yet to face either player at an ATP World Tour event.