Russian Nikolay Davydenko kicked off his US Open campaign with a comfortable straight-sets victory over American Michael Russell.
The sixth seed overcame a sluggish start to win 6-4 6-1 6-3 against world No.80 Russell in just under two-and-a-half hours at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York on Monday.
The Russian wasn't at his best in the first set, but managed to grind it out before lifting his game in the second.
Russell had fought hard in the first set but looked out of his depth after that, as Davydenko upped the pressure on the 32-year-old, who has never made it past the first round at Flushing Meadows.
Davydenko had all the answers as he whipped through the second 6-1 before breaking early in the third and wrapping it up 6-3.
He will now face Richard Gasquet in the second round after the Frenchman defeated Germany's Simon Greul 6-3 6-4 6-2 in their first-round clash.
In other men's singles action on day one, Croatian 11th seed Marin Cilic bounced back from a bad start to record a 7-5 6-3 6-1 win over Ukraine's Ilya Marchenko.
Cilic wasn't switched on at the start of the match and found himself 4-0 down in the first set.
But that was as good as it got for Marchenko, who won just five games from that point on as Cilic fought back to take the first set before turning on the style to breeze through the second and third sets.
Marchenko's serve let him down serving 14 double faults to Cilic's one for the match, and the Croatian will now face Kei Nishikori in the second round after the Japanese player's opponent Evgeny Korolev retired with an injury in their match.
Former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero barely broke a sweat in his win over Slovakian Martin Klizan.
The 2003 French Open champion took less than 90 minutes to dispose of Klizan 6-1 6-3 6-0 to make his way into the second round.
The Netherlands' Thiemo de Bakker was also a winner on day one at Flushing Meadows, defeating France's Marc Gicquel 6-4 7-5 6-2.