Andy Murray made a confident start to the US Open in New York as he raced into the second round with a straight-sets victory over Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas.

The British number one, whose season has been on hold since injuring his right wrist in May, showed few signs of rust as he dominated proceedings on the Grandstand court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

Murray, who had missed both the French Open and Wimbledon during his time on the sidelines, won the match 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 in an hour and 43 minutes.

His victory sets up a second-round tie against either Juan-Pablo Guzman of Argentina or Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman, who were one-set all on an outer court as the Scot wrapped things up against Cuevas.

Murray's coach Brad Gilbert had said before the match that his charge, seeded 19th at the US Open, was pain-free and had been practicing well since arriving in New York last week.

And there was no reason to think otherwise as Murray raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set, showing no signs of rustiness having played just three matches in the last three and a half months.

Cuevas had ended Briton Jamie Baker's hopes of making the main draw in the final qualifying round last Friday but there were few signs in the opening set that he would claim another British scalp.

Even when he broke back to 5-2, Murray immediately regained the initiative, securing the next game and the first set with a well-executed return of serve down the line.

Murray had an early chance to gain control of the second set when had break points against Cuevas in the second game, only to see the clay court specialist rally and hold his serve. Cuevas was less successful in his next service game, though, as the Scot broke to take a 3-1 lead.

With Murray serving for the set at 5-3, Cuevas put up brief resistance to earn double break point only for the 19th seed to regroup and serve out for the game and a 2-0 lead.

Murray, having made hard work of his service to win the second set, began the third at a blistering pace, breaking Cuevas in the opening and third games to take at 3-0 lead.

Clearly in a hurry, the British star who had slipped from a career high ranking of eighth in the world to 19th during his absence, broke the next game to love and swept past Cuevas on his next service game, winning the set to love in just 21 minutes.