IT'S hard to remember a defending champion being talked about less than Marin Cilic but that’s how the Croat likes it.

Seeded ninth this year, 12 months on from the scene of his greatest triumph, Cilic cruised into the third round with a second consecutive straight-sets win, beating Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on another hot day at Flushing Meadows.

It’s been a tough year for Cilic, not helped by an arm injury which he aggravated playing the Indian Premier Tennis League in the off-season and caused him to miss the Australian Open.

After returning to the Tour in March, Cilic took time to find his range but he reached the last 16 at the French Open and a quarter-final showing at Wimbledon suggested that he may be returning to top form at just the right time.

He’s played well enough here so far, cruising through the first two sets against world No.139 Donskoy, who came through the qualifying event.

The defending champion could now face Grigor Dimitrov in the third round and seems happy with the way his game is taking shape.

“It was amazing to be back,” Cilic said. “This court is very special to me, [it] brings so many positive memories.

“It’s sort of unreal to be defending the title. I was working all my life to win a grand slam and now I’m in a situation to defend one, I’m really enjoying it.

“It wasn’t an easy match, it got a bit complicated in the third set but I was pretty solid. I hope I can really go forward in this tournament.”

The career of Mardy Fish came to an end yesterday with a typically courageous five-set defeat by Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

Fish, who has been out for most of the past three years after a well-documented battle with severe anxiety disorder, looked set to postpone his retirement by at least one match when he served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set.

But Lopez broke back, won the fourth set and then, as Fish cramped badly in the fifth set, clinched a 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Fish, who had returned for one last US Open, hoping to go out on his own terms, received a standing ovation from the crowd in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Jamie Murray made a good start to his bid to go one better than Wimbledon, where he and Australia’s John Peers finished runners-up.

The pair, seeded eighth this year, completed a confident 6-3, 6-2 win over the American pair of Bjorn Fratangelo and Dennis Novikov to advance to round two.

Colin Fleming begins his campaign today, playing with Treat Huey of the Phillipines against the No.5 seeds Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.