New York: Tomas Berdych set aside memories of two first-round losses in the last three years at the US Open, cruising through his opening round this time with a 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over qualifier Romain Jouan of France.

“It was very disappointing to have some of those first-round exits,” said the ninth-seeded Czech, who also remembers winning matches on the hard courts in his first Grand Slam appearances as a junior.

“Things have been kind of up and down for me here. I look forward to getting some higher results this year.”

Berdych, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon finals last year, needed one hour, 56 minutes to complete a routine victory over Jouan, who was in his first tour-level match of the season. A fairly pressure-free day after a weekend filled with uncertainty because of Hurricane Irene, which washed out practice days and forced the players to scramble for court time.

Also winning an early match Monday was 27th-seeded Marin Cilic, who defeated 19-year-old American Ryan Harrison 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (6). Harrison, who made headlines last year with his first-round upset of 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, had chances to serve out the second and third sets, but was broken each time.

“I didn’t break any rackets; I didn’t say swear words on court,” Harrison said.

Other early winners included 20th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, No. 31 Marcel Granollers, No. 22 Alexandr Dolgopolov and, on the women's side, No. 19 Julia Goerges.