Novak Djokovic made a withering start to his US Open title defence with a 6-1 6-0 6-1 first round thrashing of Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.

Second seed Djokovic lost the first game on serve then ran off 18 of the next 19 as he romped through in just 73 minutes on Tuesday.

Djokovic won 79 of 114 points and finished with seven aces and 32 winners compared to zero and 10 for his opponent.

Bizarrely, Lorenzi won the same number of games – just two – in a 6-2 6-0 6-0 loss to Djokovic in the first round of the year’s first grand slam, the Australian Open.