Murray faces tough draw at Flushing Meadows

Andy Murray faces a tough fight in his bid to win at Flushing Meadows, after drawing one of the most in-form players on tour, Argentina's Juan Martín Del Potro, as well as the man he replaced as the world No 2, Rafael Nadal.

Murray, who goes into the US Open as the second seed at a grand slam for the first time, will also have to hit the ground running on Monday when he meets his first opponent, the hugely talented Latvian player Ernests Gulbis. Although Gulbis, once tipped as a future world No 1, has been beaten by Murray in all three of their previous encounters, the Latvian is still a dangerous player.

Should Murray beat Gulbis, as he did easily in a second-round meet at Wimbledon this year, the second seed will play Chile's Paul Capdeville or Romania's Victor Crivoi. Then the draw becomes trickier for Murray, with a possible third-round meeting with the powerful Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who at 6ft 10in is the tallest player ever on the ATP circuit, and a possible fourth-round encounter with Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka or Croatia's Marin Cilic.

Murray, the only British man in the tournament, is likely to then have to play Del Potro in the quarter-finals and Nadal in the last four. He will not meet Roger Federer, who beat him in straight sets in the final 12 months ago, until the final.

Meanwhile the 15-year-old Londoner Laura Robson, who was given a wild card into the qualifying championships at Flushing Meadows, is just one more victory away from qualifying for the women's tournament. Robson came from 0-4 down in the second set for a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Hungary's Aniko Kapros. ·