Murray sweeps aside Gulbis to advance at Flushing Meadows

ANDY Murray even found time to crack a wry smile during his US Open first-round victory, such was the world number two's dominance over Ernests Gulbis at Flushing Meadows.

 EASY DOES IT: Few problems for Andy Murray as he advances to the second round of the US Open

On the eve of the fourth grand slam of the year, Murray has insisted his no-nonsense approach leaves him no time to be cheerful on court.

But as one of his perfectly legitimate serves was inexplicably called out during his routine 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory over the Latvian, even the frosty Scot could see the funny side.

The British number one did not need to reach deep into his reserves nor reach his highest gear against Gulbis but he was ruthlessly efficient in marching on to the second round.

While Murray's performance was typically workmanlike, Gulbis was still an opponent not to be taken lightly - his world ranking of 95 belies his undoubted talent.

Gulbis, a year Murray's junior, can provide a stern a test as most on his day, but as the world rankings suggest, those days do not come around all too often.

But under the lights in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, the big-hitting Latvian went toe-to-toe with Murray early on, as his booming ground strokes and emphatic serves found their target.

Murray does not possess Gulbis' power but his consistency and his ability to force mistakes, coupled with his unerring accuracy proved vital as the Scot eased through on to round two.

Awaiting the British number one will be Chile's Paul Capdeville, who overcame Romania's Victor Crivoi in straight sets.

Gulbis had been comprehensively beaten by Murray in each of their three previous encounters, but that unfavourable record did not seem to faze him in the early exchanges.

These two have history after Gulbis' negative comments at Queen's last year, questioning the authenticity of Murray's thumb injury,

Those comments did not sit well with Murray, who subsequently dumped Gulbis out of Wimbledon earlier this year and both players raced through their opening service games with more than a hint of one-upmanship.

Murray drew first blood in the opening set, breaking Gulbis in game six as the Latvian's ground strokes momentarily eluded him.

But Gulbis was up for the fight and he broke straight back with a series of blistering shots - it was clear it would not be all plain sailing for Murray.

At 6-5 down and serving to stay in the set however, Gulbis buckled under the pressure. He made three consecutive errors to hand Murray three set points and while he saved all three, the Scot still found enough to clinch the set.

Murray went into overdrive at the start of the second set and raced into a 3-0 lead, and while Gulbis managed to break back and bring the scores to 4-3, he let his guard down and the Scot swung the momentum in his favour once more.

And at 5-3 and serving for the set, he was in no mood to surrender his advantage and promptly took a two-set lead.

The third set remained on serve until game 11 as Murray failed to capitalise on his three break points.

But at the fourth time of asking, and with the pressure on Gulbis' shoulders even greater, Murray smelled blood and moved 6-5 ahead, before serving out the match.

There were no more smiles from Murray upon completing victory when Gulbis struck the ball into the net, but then, as he is only too aware, the job is far from finished yet.