Murray back in business

Defending champion eases into round two with a 6-2 6-4 6-3 win over Michael Llodra.

He waited a lot longer than he expected but Andy Murray finally began his U.S. Open defence with an emphatic straight-sets victory that lit up an otherwise gloomy day at Flushing Meadows. A quirky schedule combined with persistent rain left Murray waiting until almost 10 on the third night before he finally started his first-round match against Frenchman Michael Llodra. With his patience beginning to wear thin,the Scotsman was in a hurry to make up for lost time in his first match back at Arthur Ashe Stadium since he won his first grand slam title 12 months ago.

He whipped Llodra 6-2 6-4 6-3 in just over 90 minutes with a brilliant display of shotmaking that left the New York crowd wanting more on a day when dozens of matches were postponed because of foul weather. Of the remaining matches that were completed,Venus Williams was the biggest casualty,sent packing following a 6-3 2-6 7-65 loss to Chinas Zheng Jie after the pair had slugged it out for more than three hours. Once the undisputed Queen of Flushing,the 33-year-old Americans best days now seem behind her after she crashed to her third successive second-round defeat at the U.S. National Tennis Center.

She did at least provide a memorable reminder of her fighting qualities as she clawed her way back and pushed the match into a deciding tiebreak only to falter at the death with successive errors.

Two other former champions,Argentinas Juan Martin Del Potro and Australias Lleyton Hewitt,fared better,surviving tough battles to set up a second-round clash. Del Potro,the winner in 2009,beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-3 6-75 6-4 7-67 while Hewitt,who won in 2001,wore down American qualifier Brian Baker 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4.

In the womens draw,Polands Agnieszka Radwanska,the third seed,easily defeated Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-0 7-5 while Chinas Li Na just beat the first rain falls to dispose of Swedens Sofia Arvidsson 6-2 6-2. Around four hours of play was lost on the day because of showers that sent players and spectators scampering for cover then continued to drizzle. Another downpour in the afternoon prompted officials to postpone 28 matches until Thursday,including the second round match featuring Serena Williams,in order to complete the mens first round,which is played over three days at the U.S. Open.

FICKLE WEATHER

New Yorks fickle weather has been a major talking point at the last grand slam of the season for years with each of the last five mens finals spilling into a third week because of rain delays. The problem has been exacerbated because of the tournaments controversial scheduling.

Apart from playing the mens first round over three days,the U.S. Open was previously the only grand slam where both singles semi-finals and finals were played on successive days,leaving no room for catch-up if rain falls on the last weekend. Tournament organisers changed the schedule this year to provide a day off between the semi-finals and final,but remain powerless to combat Mother Nature because they have no roof unlike the other grand slam events.

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For years,U.S. Tennis Association officials balked at the idea of building one because of the cost of covering Arthur Ashe Stadium,the largest tennis stadium in the world. But they have finally relented,announcing two weeks ago they would commence a massive renovation program,which would include a retractable roof,but not until 2016 at the earliest.

SOMDEV ADVANCES

Somdev Devvarman battled his way through rain interruptions to notch up a hard-fought victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in a gruelling opening round match. The 28-year-old rallied from a set down to win the next two when rain interrupted the match. The Indian,however,returned to complete the job as he emerged 4-6,6-1,6-2,4-6,6-4 victories in the match which lasted three hours and 11 minutes. The world number 114 Indian will next take on Italian Andrea Seppi,ranked 20th,in the second round. Seppi beat Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse 6-3,3-6,7-5,7-5 in another match. Somdev won 93 per cent of the net points compared to Lukass 63 per cent and also converted eight of the 12 break points that came his way. He also committed just 36 unforced errors,while Slovak had double the number of unforced errors 73 in the match.

Important results:

Mens Singles First Round: Andy Murray 3,Britain,def. Michael Llodra,France,6-2,6-4,6-3; Juan Martin del Potro 6,Argentina,def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez,Spain,6-3,6-7 5,6-4,7-6 7; Stanislas Wawrinka 9,Switzerland,def. Radek Stepanek,Czech Republic,7-6 2,6-3,6-2; Rajeev Ram,United States,def. Fabio Fognini 16,Italy,6-1,6-2,6-2; Somdev Devvarman,India,def. Lukas Lacko,Slovakia,4-6,6-1,6-2,4-6,6-4; Marcos Baghdatis,Cyprus,def. Go Soeda,Japan,6-4,6-3,6-1; Womens Singles Second Round: Agnieszka Radwanska 3,Poland,def. Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor,Spain,6-0,7-5; Li Na 5,China,def. Sofia Arvidsson,Sweden,6-2,6-2; Sloane Stephens 15,United States,def. Urszula Radwanska,Poland,6-1,6-1; Laura Robson 30,Britain,def. Caroline Garcia,France,6-4,7-6 5.;