World No. 1 Jannik Sinner stormed past Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in just over 90 minutes in Thursday's second round at the US Open.

Despite Popyrin's credentials, the Australian was no match for Sinner, who dominated throughout the match, marking his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam hard-court victory.

Jannik Sinner hits a return during the men's singles second round match between Jannik Sinner of Italy and Alexei Popyrin of Australia at the 2025 US Open tennis championships in New York, the United States, on Aug. 28, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Rui)

"I try to play the best tennis I can," Sinner said during his on-court interview.

World No. 3 Alexander Zverev held off a late push from Britain's Jacob Fearnley to reach the third round, winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and setting up a clash with Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime.

In other key men's singles matches on Thursday, No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia defeated Japan's Shintaro Mochizuki 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, while Poland's Kamil Majchrzak upset No. 9 seed Karen Khachanov 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

In the women's singles, Coco Gauff overcame a shaky start to defeat Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the second round.

The American struggled in the opening set, committing seven double faults and losing her serve four times. But she twice broke Vekic when the Croatian was serving for the set, forcing a tiebreak that Gauff narrowly won before cruising through the second set.

"I was just trying to tell myself to breathe," Gauff said. "I don't remember a lot of the end of the first set, to be honest, but it's kind of amazing that I was able to get out of that one. Once I was able to reset, I went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. After that I felt a lot better out here."

In other key women's singles matches, No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States defeated Australia's Maya Joint 7-6 (2), 6-2, while No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic outlasted Romania's Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (0), 6-7 (3), 6-4.