Federer cashes in with easy win

Federer's comfortable 6-1 6-3 7-5 win over the 18-year-old American wild card earned him US$31,000 to make him the first tennis player to surpass $50m in career prize money as he stretched his winning streak at the US Open to 35 consecutive matches.

"No need to write about that," Federer joked when the subject of his prize earnings was raised, but the world number one was more forthcoming about getting through to the second round, where he will face Germany's Simon Greul on Wednesday.

"I'm always happy to win matches at grand slams or any tournament, so it was a good start for me," he continued. "I didn't drop a set and it was a tricky match for me, playing a guy who's got absolutely nothing to lose. I'm here as a five-time defending champion so it makes it a bit tricky."

The Swiss star, looking to add to his French Open and Wimbledon grand slam titles in 2009, had Britton shell-shocked from the start, sending down an ace as he won the first game to love on the way to a 3-0 lead, dropping just one point in the process and wrapping up the opening set in just 18 minutes.

The teenager broke Federer's serve to love in the fourth game of the second set to take a 3-1 lead but the 15-time grand slam winner stepped up a gear and rattled off a five-game winning streak to take a 2-0 lead.

The third set was more evenly contested but having again gone a break up at 4-3, Britton was immediately overpowered by the top seed, losing his serve and with it his chance of staying the match.

There were some early casualties among the men's seeds with Paul-Henri Mathieu ousted 2-6 7-5 6-0 6-2 by Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, while Victor Hanescu of Romania was beaten by American John Isner in a testing straight-sets match 6-1 7-6 (16/14) 7-6 (7/5).

There were no such problems for eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Sweden's Robin Soderling, the 12th seed, and Spain's Tommy Robredo, the 14th seed, who all progressed.