NEW YORK, USA (AFP) — Andy Murray battled Hurricane Earl and a sometimes pesky Jamaican yesterday to reach the third round of the US Open.

The British fourth seed was expected to sweep past the unconventional Dustin Brown with little or no effort and in the end he did so 7-5, 6-3, 6-0.

But he was left scratching his head at times in the first set by the towering Brown's unorthodox play focused around a huge, whipping serve and some outrageous drop shots.

On top of that, early play was suspended for around 20 minutes as, courtesy of Hurricane Earl churning up the US eastern seaboard, a rain shower splattered the Flushing Meadows courts.

In the end, the dreadlocked Brown, ranked 123rd in the world, had little to offer and Murray swept into a meeting with either Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina or Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland with the prize for the winner being a place in the last 16.

There was heartbreak, meanwhile, for US teen Ryan Harrison, who squandered three match points in the final-set tie-breaker against Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in a thriller out on the noisy Grandstand Stadium before going down 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).

There was better news for US hopes, however, shortly after when Wimbledon marathon man Johh Isner won through to the third round with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 win over Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland.

American hopes of a first home champion since 2003 were badly dented on Wednesday when Andy Roddick, who won the title seven years ago, lost to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

The day was dominated by the involvement of nine Spanish and seven French players in the 16 second-round matches in the top half of the draw.

Tommy Robredo got the Spanish challenge off to strong start when his French opponent, Julian Benneteau, retired in a second set tie-break after injuring his left wrist stretching for a shot. Robredo had won the first set 6-4.

Benneteau's compatriot Michael Llodra, however, did go through defying a painful left foot injury to defeat Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-2.

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