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Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic shrugged off an injury scare to reach the second round of the US Open.

The Australian Open champion, runner-up to Roger Federer in New York last year, beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-3 6-3 6-4 in his opening match.

An ankle scare early in the third set proved to be merely a storm in a teacup for the Serb.

"It's okay," Djokovic after setting up a second-round encounter with American wildcard Robert Kendrick. "It's going to be good in two days, I'm sure. I was thinking more of it than I was really actually feeling the pain, so it's not really a big deal.

"In that certain moment, I felt big pain so I just had to tape the ankle. But it's going to be all right."

Having won his first Grand Slam title in January, Djokovic is one of the favourites to end Federer's bid for a fifth consecutive US Open title and Rafael Nadal's attempt at his first.

The 21-year-old Serb gave a terse response when told that many people would like to see a repeat of this year's Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer, a marathon match won by the Spaniard.

Djokovic said the experience of playing in front of 23,000 people in the US Open final against Federer 12 months ago had been key to his victory at the Australian Open in January.

Fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko shrugged off his recent poor form to charge into the second round with a 6-3 6-3 6-3 win over Israel's Dudi Sela.

The Russian has not won back-to-back matches since winning a low-key claycourt tournament in Warsaw in June but seemed to have found his groove to dispatch Sela.

The 27-year-old's only stutter was when he was broken while serving for the match at 5-2 up in the third set but quickly regained his focus to end his 76th-ranked opponent's challenge in the next game.

Davydenko will take on Argentina's Agustin Calleri for a place in round three.

Reuters