Andy Murray was one of six British players to begin their US Open campaigns with victories on day two of the Grand Slam tournament at Flushing Meadows.
The 2012 champion took just under three hours to defeat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-2 7-5 6-3 for his 200th Grand Slam victory, becoming only the eighth male player to hit that milestone in the Open Era.
Murray - whose preparations for the US Open had been disrupted by injury - won the final four games of the first set before finding himself under the cosh in the second, facing a 5-2 deficit against the versatile Moutet.
However, the 36-year-old saved two set points to draw level at 5-5, and Moutet let emotion take over, angrily smashing his racquet onto the court before being broken again as Murray put one foot firmly in the second round.
The Briton squandered three break points in the eighth game of the third set, but he made no mistake on his fourth opportunity before converting his third match point with a backhand volley.
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Murray's second-round opponent will be Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, who came back from two sets down to win for the first time in his career at the opening hurdle, overcoming Alex Molcan 6-7[9] 6-7[5] 6-1 7-5 7-6[9].
Earlier in the day, British number one Cameron Norrie kicked off his bid for a maiden major crown by defeating Russia's Alexander Shevchenko 6-3 6-2 6-2, winning 86% of his points at the net and setting up a clash with Taiwanese qualifier Hsu Yu-hsiou.
Elsewhere in the men's section, Dan Evans secured a straight-sets win of his own, overcoming Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4 6-2 7-5 despite facing 12 aces from the Colombian, and he will face Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in round two.
Jack Draper also pushed his fitness woes to one side with an emphatic 6-1 6-4 6-3 win over Romania's Radu Albot, registering 36 winners on the day, and his reward will be a clash against Polish 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Following Yuriko Miyazaki's inaugural Grand Slam win on Monday, Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage joined their compatriot in the second round, as the former subjected Diane Parry to a New York bagel with a 6-4 6-0 win.
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As was the case with Miyazaki, Boulter's triumph also marked her first-ever US Open win, and the 27-year-old now prepares to tackle Chinese qualifier Yafan Wang, who stunned French seventh seed Caroline Garcia 6-4 6-1.
Meanwhile, Burrage - who lost to Boulter in this year's Nottingham Open final - won 6-3 6-4 against Russia's Anna Blinkova and now faces a formidable task against reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Elsewhere, defending men's champion Carlos Alcaraz was only on the court for an hour against Germany's Dominik Koepfer before the German retired injured, having fallen a set and a break down to the Spaniard.
Alexander Zverev, Stanislas Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sinner also advanced, but 11th seed Karen Khachanov was seen off by world number 89 Michael Mmoh.
Alongside Sabalenka, there were also wins for Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, but 2021 runner-up Leylah Fernandez lost in three sets to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
> Click here for a roundup of day one's action
Ben Knapton
