Lleyton Hewitt has beaten Spaniard Albert Montanes in straight sets to advance to the second round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

Hewitt, the tournament's No 15 seed, was locked at five games all in the first set with Montanes when play was abandoned due to rain on Tuesday.

But when he came out on Wednesday he was in blistering form and made light work of the Spaniard, defeating him 7-5 6-4 6-3.

In other Australian matches, a gallant Mark Philippoussis gave his fans a glimmer of hope before succumbing to the class of world No.2 Rafael Nadal.

In a high-quality encounter befitting of its centre-court status, Nadal was made to work hard for his 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory in two hours and two minutes.

Philippoussis's exit left 15th seed Lleyton Hewitt as the lone Australian in the men's singles draw at the season's final grand slam tournament.

But there was plenty to like about Philippoussis's performance against one of the sport's genuine heavyweights.

So often hit and miss, Philippoussis produced one of his best efforts since spiralling out of the world's top 10 two-and-a-half years ago to his current ranking of No.113.

The enigmatic 29-year-old lost just three of 48 points on his first serve against one of the game's finest returners and more than offset his three double-faults with 19 aces.

The Australian wildcard - a finalist in New York in 1998 - also struck 46 winners to counter 35 unforced errors.

"With the tennis that Mark's playing, he could have beaten a lot of people in the draw," noted former Australian Davis Cup coach Wally Masur.

"It's a little unfortunate he ran into the No.2 seed."

The trouble was, apart from one game in the third set, Philippoussis, for all his efforts, was unable to make any real inroads on Nadal's serve.

While Philippoussis boasted a 94 per cent strike rate when he landed his first serve, the Spaniard was only marginally less successful at 87 per cent.

The two telling statistics were Nadal's meagre count of 10 unforced errors and Philippoussis's first-serves-in dropping to 55 per cent by the end of the match.

One service break in each set was enough for Nadal to advance to the second round.

Philippoussis must have rued playing his weakest service game in the opening game of the match, allowing the two-time French Open champion to break to love for a 1-0 lead.

The second set was tight and went with serve until Philippoussis coughed up his only double-fault of the set on break point in the crucial ninth game.

Nadal comfortably held to take a two-set stranglehold on the match.

He broke Philippoussis's first service game in the third set as the Australian began to show signs of fatigue.

Despite continuing to push hard, Philippoussis was unable to capitalise on four break-point opportunities in the fourth game of the set, Nadal eventually fist-pumping his way to a second-round meeting with Peruvian Luis Horna.

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