Murray progresses after five-set win

The British number one, seeded 19th at Flushing Meadows, took three hours, 37 minutes to beat the 35-year-old Swede 5-7 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-1 on the Grandstand court with a performance that was both brilliant and sloppy in equal measures.

Murray, 20, said following his opening-round victory over qualifier Pablo Cuevas on Monday that he was enjoying his tennis once again following a lengthy period on the sidelines with a wrist injury.

It was difficult to believe him at times against Bjorkman, who was a semi-finalist here in 1997 - when his opponent was just 10 years old - and reached the last four at Wimbledon in 2006. Having lost the first set on his first dropped service game, Murray hit back with some great tennis in the next two sets to take the match by the scruff of the neck.

He had lost the first two games of the second set before switching gears and going on a run that saw him win six of the next seven games. Even that hot streak was not without incident, Murray losing a point at deuce in the fifth game of the set and shouting an obscenity for which he received a warning from umpire Pascal Maria of France.

It did not distract Murray from winning the set with some great shot-making that continued into the third set. But the Scot seemed to switch off in the fourth set, his first serve deserting him and dropping to a 43% success rate.

Murray put himself in trouble in the second game of the fourth by serving two double faults only to play his way out of the hole. He was less fortunate in the fourth game, when sloppy play handed Bjorkman a break of service as the Swede took a 3-1 lead.

Murray broke straight back but Bjorkman stuck to his task and broke again to go 5-3 up and once more to take the set.

As the fifth set got under way, tiredness seemed to creep in to Murray's game but, luckily for him, Bjorkman was starting to make errors too, particularly on his forehand.

The 19th seed managed to break Bjorkman against the run of play in the opening game and then again in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead and suddenly Murray was back in business, breaking the Swede a final time to take the match.