Andy Murray sizzles in the heat at the US Open

It was hot in New York yesterday, again, but the only thing sizzling as far as Britain was concerned was Andy Murray. In his first match at the US Open the Scot scorched past unseeded Slovakian Lukas Lacko in straight sets – 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 – and will now meet Jamaican Dustin Brown in the second round.

It took Murray one hour and 51 minutes to see off Lacko on the Arthur Ashe Court in temperatures so hot that one player, Victoria Azarenka, collapsed during her second round match in the women's singles competition. The 21-year-old Belarusian, the women's 10th seed at Flushing Meadow, succumbed to the intense heat in the first set of her match against  Argentine Gisela Dulko and she was taken from the court in a wheelchair.

Thankfully Murray has acclimatised to the heatwave ravaging parts of the US this summer and Lacko never looked liked troubling the 2008 US Open runner-up. He started the match with a pair of aces and broke the Slovakian in the fourth game with a lob that signalled his intent. He then took control of the second set early on, breaking Lacko twice, and by the time the third set began Murray's opponent was clearly demoralised, committing any number of unforced errors as the 23-year-old Scot cruised to a comfortable victory. " I managed to get through in straight sets so I'm pleased, but it was a lot tougher than the score suggests," Murray said later. "Everyone in my box always tells me it's a lot tougher watching in the heat than playing but I'm not so sure. They were brutal conditions."

Murray, currently without a coach after sacking Miles Maclagan in July, now faces the threat of the 25-year-old Brown in round two, a player who was born in Germany, raised in Jamaica and who has sounded out Britain about the chances of playing for them in the Davis Cup courtesy of his English grandmother. With an attire every bit as colourful as his history, Brown will have the crowd on his side when he meets Murray on Friday and his personality is a striking contrast to the introverted Murray.

The 22-year-old spent the early part of his professional career traveling from tournament to tournament in a battered camper van as he was unable to afford taking the plane. "I'm from Jamaica, so it felt like home out there today," he said after disposing of Ramirez Hidalgo in three sets, adding that the money will come in handy.  "You get $18,000 for coming here so that's good. But I'm keeping the camper van at home, just in case." ·