US Open 2009: Andy Murray sails through against Ernests Gulbis in first-round clash

If Andy Murray's first-round victory over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis at the US Open was to be expected, the match under the lights at the Arthur Ashe Stadium included the astonishing sight of the Scot getting the giggles just before he tried to convert a set point.

It was a shared joke, too, as Gulbis was sniggering to himself at the other end of the court.

Murray was laughing so much that he pulled away from hitting a serve.

The reason for their laughter was that Gulbis had just challenged Murray's serve using the Hawk-Eye video technology, and the replay on the stadium's giant video screens showed that the ball had landed almost a foot inside the line - it was possibly the worst challenge ever seen at the slams.

Once Murray had worked the giggles out of his system, he took that point for a two-set lead, and then won another set for a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory that took him through to play Paul Capdeville, the world No 87 from Chile.

In the third set, a ball-boy and then Murray went flying through the evening air.

First, the ball-boy couldn't stop himself from spilling over the hoardings at the side of the court. A few minutes later, Murray tripped over himself as he tried to run down a shot, and ended up doing half a forward-roll over the cement and landing on a racket bag and a chair.

Soon enough, ESPN were running a poll on the screen, 'Who's had the worst fall tonight, Murray or the ball-boy?'

Most thought it was the ball-boy, not Murray, who was making his first grand slam appearance since becoming the world No 2, and playing only the second night match of his career on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Murray, last season's runner-up, was playing defensively, for some people's tastes perhaps a little too defensively, and Gulbis was going for his shots.

The Latvian, who is ranked 95 in the world after a horrible season, struck some beautiful shots, but he also made played plenty of ugly tennis as well.

With Murray serving at 5-5, 30-30 in the opening set, Gulbis looped a cute lob over the Briton's head to give himself a breakpoint.

If Gulbis had converted that point, he would have served for the first set.

But Murray struck a big serve, and held on, and broke the Eastern European's serve in the next game.

Once Murray had gone a set up, he was not going to lose from there, even with the distractions of the giggles and the trip-ups.

Capdeville was a straight-sets winner over Romania's Victor Crivoi.

Murray would not have been displeased to hear that Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, a possible third-round opponent, lost his opening match to Spain's Ivan Nararro, or that Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, a possible fourth-round opponent, lost to Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti.