ESPN 2008 US Open

NEW YORK -- World No. 1 Rafael Nadal overpowered American qualifier Ryler DeHeart 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the third round of the U.S. Open.

First Slam at No. 1

The U.S. Open is Rafael Nadal's first Grand Slam as the world's No. 1 player. How men ranked No. 1 for the first time have fared in their first Grand Slam, since 1988:

Player	Became No. 1	First Slam	Result
Rafael Nadal	Aug. 18, 2008	U.S. Open	?
Roger Federer	Feb. 2, 2004	French Open	Third round
Andy Roddick	Nov. 3, 2003	Australian Open	Quarterfinals
Lleyton Hewitt	Nov. 19, 2001	Australian	First round
Gustavo Kuerten	Dec. 4, 2000	Australian	Second round
Yevgeny Kafelnikov	May 3, 1999	French	Second round
Andre Agassi	April 10, 1995	French	Quarterfinals
Pete Sampras	April 12, 1993	French	Quarterfinals
Jim Courier	Feb. 10, 1992	French	Champion
Stefan Edberg	Aug. 13, 1990	U.S.	First round
Mats Wilander	Sept. 12, 1988	Australian	Second round

Top-seeded Nadal, who was pushed to two tiebreaks by German qualifier Bjorn Phau in the first round, blasted his way past DeHeart, losing serve just once in the battle of left-handers that closed the fourth day of play.

The 22-year-old Spaniard was in total command, landing 70 percent of his first serves and facing just one break point from the DeHeart, who led 3-0 in the third set.

Nadal brought the 24-year-old American, ranked 261 and playing in his first Grand Slam, back to earth by winning the next five games and then closing out the match with a sizzling forehand winner to serve out his victory.

"The important thing was I had to come back in the third set and I'm happy with the victory," said Nadal.

The Spaniard had complained of fatigue after his opening match on Monday, a hangover from a busy season that included winning the French Open and Wimbledon as well as the Olympic gold medal.

He was full of energy against DeHeart at Arthur Ashe Stadium, needing only 19 minutes to claim the first set and less than an hour to take a two-set lead.

"I forgot a little bit about tennis," he said about his time off. "I played golf on Tuesday.

"Now I'm in the third round. I'm happy. For me it's a very important tournament here," said Nadal, who was eliminated in the fourth round last year.

Nadal, winner of 40 of his last 41 matches, next meets 71st-ranked Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who was leading 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-0 when 25th-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber retired.

"I have to improve for the next round," he said. "I have a tough opponent, Troicki. He is a good server."

Andy Murray dug deep to beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7) to reach the third round but refused to get ahead of himself as he bids for a first Grand Slam title.

The sixth-seeded Brit saved two set points in the fourth-set tiebreak before winning it 9-7 to advance to a clash with Austrian Jurgen Melzer, a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 winner over Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic.

Having won his first Masters Series title in Cincinnati earlier this month, Murray has been talked up as a contender to win the U.S. Open, but the 21-year-old said he had learned a hard lesson when it came to looking too far ahead.

"In the past, for me, if you do start doing that it doesn't work out particularly well," Murray said. "The guys that I'm playing are not guys that I'm 100 percent expected to beat. If there's a chance I can lose the match, you're going to take it very seriously.

"There's no point in looking ahead. You understand what's going on in the draw and which half of the draw you're in and where the top seeds are. But it doesn't make me start looking into semis, quarterfinals, because I only made the quarterfinals of a Slam once [at Wimbledon this year]. I'm not good enough to be able to do that," he said.

One break was enough to give Murray the first set, but in the second set his second serve fell short too often and Llodra, who has won two ATP events this year, attacked it to great effect, breaking twice to level the match.

World No. 38 Llodra then had three break points in the opening game of the third set but Murray held on and then broke in the 12th game to restore his advantage.

U.S. Open scores

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Murray, who reached the fourth round in 2006, twice recovered from a break down in the fourth set to force a tiebreak, but Llodra had two chances to take the match to a fifth set.

The Scot saved the first one with a measured forehand pass and Llodra netted a forehand on the second one, before Murray clinched victory two points later.

"I was very happy with the match," Murray said, having hit just 13 unforced errors to 46 for the Frenchman. "I thought I hit the ball from the back of the court very well. I didn't feel like I was making many mistakes from the baseline."

Other winners Thursday were ninth-seeded American James Blake, who was leading 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 when Belgian Steve Darcis retired; unseeded American Mardy Fish, who ousted No. 24 Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; American Sam Querrey, who took out Nicolas Devilder of France 7-6 (6), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; No. 4 David Ferrer of Spain, who beat Germany's Andreas Beck 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5); seventh-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, who cruised past Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who defeated American Wayne Odesnik 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-2; No. 14 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, who beat France's Florent Serra 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2; 16th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, who rolled over Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 17th-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, who rallied past Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; 32nd-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, who held off Evgeny Korolev of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Japan's Kei Nishikori, who was leading 6-1, 7-5 when Roko Karanusic of Croatia retired; and Flavio Cipolla of Italy, who held off Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.