US Open

The top-seeded Serbian, who has claimed four of the last five grand slam titles, took some time to settle in to his first career meeting with Carballes Baena but after a tight first set was off to the races.

Djokovic, bidding for a 17th grand slam title, got an early break to go ahead 2-0 in the second set and never looked back as the three-times champion used a mix of deft volleys, solid movement and great instincts to secure the win.

Up next for Djokovic will be either American Sam Querrey or Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero.

Golf's third major of the year begins at Pebble Beach on Thursday, with Woods among the top contenders after winning the Masters in April, ending an 11-year major drought to claim his 15th.

Victory for the 43-year-old would see him tie Nicklaus and three other players on a record four U.S. Open crowns.

He is now only three overall majors adrift of Nicklaus, who thinks the gap could become two at the venue where Woods won the same tournament by 15 strokes back in 2000. 

In the first All-American final since the Williams sisters played each other for the title in 2002, Stephens ran riot to win 6-3 6-0 in a surprisingly one-sided encounter on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Stephens joins 2009 champion Kim Clijsters as the only unseeded women's champions in the Open era.

"It's incredible," said Stephens. "If someone told me when I had surgery that I would win the US Open, it's impossible I would say. Coming back, just being able to keep it all together, this journey's been incredible and I wouldn't change it for the world.

The Czech world No 1, who reached the final in New York last year, required three sets to defeat American home favourite Nicole Gibbs in the second round and was on the brink of defeat before rallying to record a hard fought 3-6 7-5 6-4 success.

Pliskova lost the first set after struggling to gain rhythm in her service games and despite securing an early break in the second set against the Chinese 27th seed she needed to fire a forehand winner down the line to save a match point in the tenth game of the second set with Zhang serving for the match.

Angelique Kerber secured her second grand-slam title with a three-set win over Karolina Pliskova in the US Open final.