Murray wins through

It was a solid performance from the Brit on the Arthur Ashe Stadium, and he was not afforded an overly comfortable progression by the gutsy Devvarman, whose unforced errors undermined his unwavering endeavour.

With Robin Soderling having withdrawn from the US Open through illness, Murray's quarter of the draw was effectively opened up further.

Murray, a finalist at the 2008 US Open, was broken in the very first game of the match as Devvarman seized the initiative with a flurry of scintillating groundstrokes which stunned the fourth seed.

The fourth seed responded to level at 3-3 with a brilliantly crafted assault on his opponent's serve, and parity was restored midway through the opening set.

What ensued was a flurry of fiercely contested games which went to deuce, and the set had to be decided on a tie-break.

Murray stamped his authority on proceedings at 4-4 in the breaker, and two successive forehand winners saw the Brit clinch the opening set in clinical fashion, 7-5 on the breaker.

Devvarman's energy level appeared to drop following the first set, with the 24-year-old Murray needing only 77 minutes to capture the final two.

The two players traded breaks at the start of the second set in what was a frenetic opening, and the number four seed was stunned by Devvarman's intensity as he saw his serve breached.

But Murray swiftly settled and took control of the set, breaking his unseeded opponent's serve ruthlessly once more and finding a good unwavering rhythm on his own delivery.

Murray took the second set 6-2 in what turned out to be pretty emphatic fashion, and suddenly Devvarman was left looking despondent and weary.

The third set saw Murray break from the outset, unleashing a blistering array of shots to leave his opponent reeling at the back of the court, and the Brit was on his way to a straight-sets victory.

A second break gave Murray a commanding lead in the third set and, despite Devvarman epitomising his own commitment with a gutsy response to reduce the deficit, the fourth seed was able to close it out 6-3.

Murray will next face Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the second round after he cruised past Portugal's Rui Machado 6-0 6-4 6-4, with the ever-dangerous Soderling removed from his potential path later in the tournament.

Murray said: "I don't think you want to be playing your best tennis right at the beginning of the tournament.

"That's something that over the years I've got better at. I would get very frustrated in matches if I wasn't playing great right at the beginning."

Another Brit, Laura Robson, was defeated in straight sets by Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-2 6-3, in their second-round clash.

Robson progressed through to the second round courtesy of a 7-6 1-0 result over Ayumi Morita of Japan as her opponent retired, but she was unable to find any rhythm against the 30th seeded Spaniard.

Louk Sorensen became the second Irishman to retire in the first round as he threw in the towel after just one game of the fourth set against Rogerio Dutra Da Silva of Brazil, who was a last-minute replacement for Robin Soderling after the Swede was taken ill.

Da Silva won through 6-0 3-6 6-4 1-0 as Sorensen brought an abrupt end to the match after sustaining an arm injury and being unable to continue.

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins enjoyed a comfortable 6-3 6-3 victory over Martin Damm and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in their men's doubles first-round match.

Another British pair, Jamie Delgado and Jonathan Marray, also progressed with a 6-3 6-7 6-4 win over German pair Matthias Bachinger and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

But Jamie Murray did not enjoy such success in partnership with Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez as they were defeated by Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner - the ninth seeded pair - 6-3 6-0 in their first-round encounter.