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The laconic Scot, Andy Murray, revealed a lot with the first words of his postmatch media conference Monday after defeating qualifier Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 at the U.S. Open.

"It was the first round and [I played] against an opponent that a lot of people won't know," he said in a tone that could not hide the emotion he felt, "[but] that result meant a lot to me — more than a lot of results earlier in the year."

Murray was out for 12 weeks with a right wrist injury before playing in the Rogers Cup in Canada this month. He did not hit full-bodied forehands in Montreal or in Cincinnati the next week. "I just wasn't really playing my tennis," he said of those frustrating performances. "I wasn't able to dictate points."

A trip back to London, a visit with a sports psychologist and more practice and he appears to have finally found the level that took him to the top 10 in the world before he got hurt in Hamburg in May.

"I was really happy to get through," he said, "and play like that because it's been a lot time since I've been able to do that."

Not only did he hit his forehand with conviction and consistency, his serve was deadly. "I was consistently serving 135 miles an hour," he said. "In the past, I've been able to do that, but that wasn't really my average first-serve speed. It would go down to 120. I wasn't keeping it up."

Having Murray, now ranked No.19, back playing his captivating tennis is a real benefit for the game.

His brand of tennis is full of variety. He's sort of like a middleweight boxer who has the knockout punch of a heavyweight.

In recent times, Murray has not always carried himself on court in a positive manner.

On Monday, he talked of the growing pains he has gone through. "I was just trying to play too well, expecting too much of myself," he said, grappling to explain himself. "The biggest thing for me was to go and look at my matches at Wimbledon in 2005 and when I played here in 2005. My attitude and my body language were excellent.

"The way I play should be fun for people to watch, and for myself, because it's a bit different. I use different shots than a lot of players. I try to mix it up. You know, it's good fun. I should be trying to annoy my opponents by the way I play rather than getting annoyed with the way I'm playing myself."

In other men's matches Monday, top seed Roger Federer defeated American qualifier Scoville Jenkins 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

There were two surprises, as Max Mirnyi, the veteran serve-volleying Belarusian, upset No..18 seed Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (6), and Feliciano Lopez ousted his Spanish compatriot, No..21 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

In women's play, top seed Justine Henin won her opening-round match 6-0, 6-3 over qualifier Julia Goerges of Germany.

Henin, 25, won her only U.S. Open title in 2003. "It sure seems like a long time ago now," she said with a smile. "In Toronto [at the Rogers Cup], I was the oldest player in the main draw. That was a bit of a blow."

Henin stayed in Toronto for several days after her Rogers Cup victory, but said her sore shoulder prevented her from hitting serves during her two practice sessions there.

Also advancing was Jelena Jankovic, the runner-up to Henin in Toronto. Jankovic of Serbia defeated Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-6 (2). That was a day after she and Henin, who get along well, had a practice session on Arthur Ashe Stadium, where they both played yesterday afternoon.

Last night, No..12 seed Venus Williams, defeated 29-year-old qualifier Kira Nagy of Hungary 6-2, 6-1 and set a Grand Slam record with a 129 mph serve. Williams' sister Serena, seeded No. 8, followed her onto the court, winning 6-3, 7-5 over Angelique Kerber of Germany.

Their matches followed a tribute to Althea Gibson, the first black woman to win the U.S. Open (known then as the U.S. Nationals) 50 years ago in 1957.

Many well-known black women, including heptathlon Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former U.S. senator Carol Moseley Braun and Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas were present. Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, sang Respect.

Earlier, singer Roberta Flack, famous for the song Killing Me Softly, was asked whether she played tennis. "No, I'm terrible," she said.

"I'm clumsy and not very mobile with moving my feet. I'm good at Ping-Pong. But I am a fan of tennis. I love the game."

PASSING SHOT

Jesse Levine of Boca Raton, Fla., drew a crowd of reporters after his 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 loss to fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko Monday on the Grandstand court at the U.S. Open.

Levine, 21-0 playing college tennis for the University of Florida last year, recently turned professional. He got a surprise invitation in July to spend 10 days training with world No.1 Roger Federer in Dubai.

A left-hander like Federer's rival, Rafael Nadal, Levine said many drills began with his hitting his forehand into the Federer backhand, just as Nadal does it.

He said he was impressed with Federer's fitness during the sessions that lasted three or four hours, adding, "He would help me out when we played points, 'You should do this or do that.' It was awesome."

Born in Ottawa, Levine, 19, lived there until moving to Boca Raton at 13. "I'm still a Canadian and I can go back any time and play for Canada," he said. "The Davis Cup captain [Martin Laurendeau] keeps messing with me."

Asked whether there was a chance he could represent Canada, Levine, ranked No.485, said, "Not right now."

A big Ottawa Senators fan, his Florida teammates were surprised that he could not be pulled away from the television set during their Stanley Cup playoff run last spring.