Fish’s career has been curtailed by anxiety attacks in recent years, which forced him to withdraw from the 2012 edition of the tournament, but the former world number seven produced a gusty display in his swansong in the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The 33-year-old began the match on the front foot and dominated the early stages of what would prove to be a gruelling match as he claimed the opening set 6-2 6-2, after breaking his opponent on two occasions to the delight of the home crowd.

However the momentum of the match swung regularly as Lopez struck back to level the match by claiming the second set 6-3, before Fish produced a stirring display to win the third set 6-1 and move to within touching distance of taking the match.

The Athens 2004 Olympic silver medallist was unable to continue his form into the closing stages as Lopez once again levelled the tie by winning the fourth 7-5, before seeing off his tiring rival by claiming the decider 6-3.

Fish’s fellow American Serena Williams, who is chasing a calendar Grand Slam, suffered a blip during her match against The Netherlands’ Kiki Bertens as the qualifier held an unlikely 4-0 lead in the first set tie-break.

Williams though battled back to win the tie-break 7-5 and the world number one then took full control of the match in the early stages in the second set, on route to sealing a straight sets 7-6, 6-3 victory.

There was further success for the Williams family in the women’s second round as Serena’s sister Venus also progressed winning 6-3, 2-7, 6-2 against fellow American Irina Falconi, while another home favourite Madison Keys claimed a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Czech Republic’s Tereza Smitková.

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who reached two Grand Slam semi-finals in 2014, also advanced to the third round by beating Slovenia’s Polona Hercog 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to record her first consecutive wins since March as she looks to regain form.

The men’s draw saw few shock results on the third day of the tournament, with the biggest casualty being the seventeenth seed Grigor Dmitrov as the Bulgarian was beaten 6-3, 7-6, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4 by Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

Top seed Novak Djokovic meanwhile progressed comfortably in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 over Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer, while Spain’s Rafael Nadal beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 7-6, 6-3, 7-5.

However, there was a huge surprise result in the men’s doubles as the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan were shocked by their fellow Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3.

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