Roger Federer Eases Past Benoit Paire in 2nd Round of 2018 US Open

Roger Federer rolled into the third round at the 2018 U.S. Open after a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire on Thursday.

The early results for Federer in New York have been strong. He has yet to drop a set through two matches. Both of his wins have been completed in under two hours, allowing him to preserve stamina heading into the later rounds. 

Federer and Paire came out of the gates on shaky ground with a combined 30 unforced errors. Paire added to his problems with two of his 11 double-faults in the opening set. That was the Frenchman's best chance to put Federer on his heels before the wheels fell off. 

ESPN.com's Aishwarya Kumar wondered how Federer would fare against Paire in his first match during the day at the U.S. Open: "It will be interesting to see how he handles the heat."

The weather at the tournament has been a major point of emphasis so far. The USTA had to institute a policy allowing men's players to take a 10-minute break between the third and fourth sets of a match.

Since Federer won in straight sets, he didn't have to deal with the break. Per Weather.com, temperatures felt like 95 degrees with a heat advisory in effect until 8 p.m. ET. 

Despite the straight-sets win, this wasn't Federer's best performance. He had as many double-faults as aces (five) against Paire and has committed a combined 71 unforced errors through two matches. 

Federer succeeded at keeping Paire off balance throughout the match, though:

Thanks to Paire's service problems, Federer was able to win five of his nine break-point chances. The Swiss star also excelled with his forehand shot, hitting five winners. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Federer has been nearly unbeatable in early-round matches at the U.S. Open throughout his career:

While it's been 18 years since Federer lost in the first week at the U.S. Open, he will match up with Nick Kyrgios in the third round. Here's how their three head-to-head meetings have gone:

Federer will have to play a cleaner game in the third round if he wants to keep his hopes of winning the year's final Grand Slam tournament alive.

He built a schedule that would allow him to enter this tournament fresh and ready to make a deep run. He had a warm-up at the Western & Southern Open two weeks ago, losing to Novak Djokovic in the final. 

Success at the U.S. Open has been difficult for Federer to find over the past decade. His 10-year winless drought is his longest active streak at any Grand Slam event. He hasn't played in a final since 2015. 

Federer will be able to take a day off Friday to study his flaws against Paire before stepping onto the court against a formidable opponent in Kyrgios.