First round of US Open wraps up

Andy Murray had a easy time of it in his first-round match on Tuesday, beating Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, to get to the second round at Flushing Meadows. He is looking to follow in the footsteps of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rod Laver, who are the only three men to get to the final of all four Grand Slams in one season.

Murray, seeded second at the US Open, lost to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne and Paris but won his second Wimbledon title this summer. He has also won 23 of his last 24 matches, including taking the Olympic gold medal in the men's singles in Rio earlier this month.

Third seeded Stan Wawrinka also advanced, beating Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4.

On the women's side, the world number one, Serena Williams, hit 12 aces as she blew past Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-3 in just 63 minutes. Williams, who has been nursing a sore right shoulder since Wimbledon, is going for a record 23rd major title.

Meanwhile, Bernard Tomic caused controversy by making a vulgar remark to a fan. Tomic said he later apologized to the fan and to anyone who had heard the comment, but said the individual in question had "definitely baited me the whole set." The 17th-seeded Tomic lost 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) to 72nd-ranked Damir Dzumhur.

Lawsuit pending

Eugenie Bouchard also made a quick exit, a year after slipping in the dressing room at Flushing Meadows and suffering a concussion. Bouchard, who reached three Grand Slam semifinals two years ago but has reached none since, fell to the 72nd-ranked Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Bouchard, who has sued the US Tennis Association for damages over last year's accident, conceded that it was a bit strange to be playing at the US Open while the legal case was still pending, but indicated that this hadn't affected her play.

"Obviously, being here, it's crossed my mind. But besides that, I mean, it has nothing to do with my day-to-day life," she said.

Day 3

Round 2 gets underway on Wednesday with the men's top seed, Novak Djokovic facing Jiri Vesely and the women's second seed, Angelique Kerber, up against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Among the other top-10 men's seeds playing their second-round matches on Wednesday will be Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, while Garbine Muguruza, Roberta Vinci, Madison Keys and Svetlana Kuznetsova will be in action on the women's side.

pfd/dv (AP, SID)