Marcos Baghdatis has cruised past 17th seed Kevin Anderson at the US Open tonight, reaching the third round at Flushing Meadows for the first time with a comfortable 6-2 6-2 6-2 straight-sets victory.

The former Australian Open finalist was quick out of the blocks against the big-serving South African, taking advantage of a string of unforced errors to claim the first set 6-2 in 26 minutes.

Anderson continued to struggle on serve as the Cypriot raced into a two-set lead on Court 17.

Baghdatis refused to give his opponent a route back into the match as he rattled off a straight-sets win in 88 minutes, rolling the back the years with a vintage display to banish memories of a wretched run of form so far in 2013.