Roger Federer took barely more than an hour to successfully begin the defence of his US Open title, beating Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-1 6-1 6-1 on another warm, humid day.

The victory was the top-seeded Federer's 19th straight and 29th consecutive on hardcourts, defeating a 21-year-old making his US Open debut.

The Swiss faced only one break point, converted seven of 10 of his own break-point opportunities, and completed the victory in 61 minutes.

Federer hasn't lost since June in the French Open semifinals, where he was beaten by Rafael Nadal. He has played in three events since, winning in Halle, Germany; Wimbledon and Cincinnati.

He hasn't lost on hardcourts since the Australian Open semifinals to Marat Safin, and a victory in New York would make him the first man in the Open era to win both Wimbledon and the US Open in consecutive years.

Like Monday, the day's play began with temperatures around 28 degrees Celsius and humidity about 70 per cent under threatening cloudy skies. Light rain fell before the start of the second set but play continued without interruption.

Federer won when Minar hit a drop shot attempt into the net, and then rewarded the crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium by smacking several balls into the seats.

"It was a great start," Federer said. "I really had the sense I was returning very well, holding easily on my serve. I didn't have the feeling I was in any rush at all. That's always a good feeling to have from the start of a tournament. That doesn't happen very often going into Slams."

No 12 Tim Henman joined the ousted seeds list, falling 6-4 6-2 6-2 to Spain's Fernando Verdasco. The No 9 Gaston Gaudio was eliminated.

In other early play, No 24 women's seed Shinobu Asagoe of Japan won her first match, beating Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France, 6-1 6-4.

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