Flushing Meadows, NY (My Sportsbook) - Second-seeded Scotsman Andy Murray and former runner-up Novak Djokovic were first-round winners Tuesday at the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam event of the year.

Murray, who lost to five-time defending champion Roger Federer in last year's final, topped Latvia's Ernests Gulbis, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. Murray took advantage of 51 unforced errors from his opponent and gained a second-round encounter with Chile's Paul Capdeville.

The fourth-seeded Djokovic drubbed former world No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 in 1 hour, 37 minutes at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center.

The 2008 Australian Open champion Djokovic, currently coached by former American star Todd Martin, was the 2007 U.S. Open runner-up to Federer. Martin was the 1999 U.S. Open runner-up to the legendary Andre Agassi.

"He's a person that can help me a lot in any way, his experience," said Djokovic. "And he brought freshness to our team, which is always welcome. I just really look forward to it. So far the things have been functioning quite well for all of us."

Seventh-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eased into the second round with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 tattooing of 18-yeard-old American Chase Buchanan, while 10th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco vaulted past German Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 and 11th-seeded Chilean strongman Fernando Gonzalez grounded countryman Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

"It's good, because you don't leave a lot of energy on the court." Tsonga said regarding his short match. "But I played well, and it was good."

Meanwhile, 16th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic got past American Ryan Sweeting 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4, 17th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych doused American Wayne Odesnik 7-5, 6-4, 6-4, Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti upset 19th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Sam Querrey, the 22nd seed, downed fellow American Michael Yani, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Ivo Karlovic, the 27th seed, went by way of the upset as Spain's Ivan Navarro beat the Croatian, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5).

An American pulled off a surprising upset on Day 2 of the fortnight, as 26- year-old Jesse Witten stunned 29th-seeded Russian slugger Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

Also, 30th-seeded Serb Viktor Troicki outlasted Aussie Peter Luczak 6-3, 6-3, 1-6, 2-6, 6-1.

Americans Jesse Levine, Kevin Kim and Taylor Dent were all winners on Day 2. Levine topped Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 6-1, 6-2, while Kim dismissed Israeli Dudi Sela 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2. Dent got by Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 7-5.

Additional opening-round wins came for Finn Jarkko Nieminen, Aussie Carsten Ball, Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Federico Zeballos, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, and Frenchmen Julien Benneteau, Josselin Ouanna and Florent Serra.

The first round will conclude here on Wednesday, including matches for third- seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal, sixth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro and former world No. 1 Marat Safin of Russia. Nadal will encounter Frenchman Richard Gasquet, while del Potro will meet fellow Argentine Juan Monaco and an unseeded Safin, playing in his final U.S. Open, will face Austrian lefthander Jurgen Melzer.

The former top-ranked Nadal is the reigning Aussie Open champion and owns six major titles. The two-time major titlist Safin captured the U.S. Open in 2000.

The 2009 U.S. Open champ will collect at least $1.6 million.