While others at the US Open had just another day at the office, Marat Safin was forced to put in some overtime.
Safin, the men's second seed, outlasted former top-10 player Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) in a marathon afternoon first-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Conversely, defending champions Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt recorded easy straight-sets victories.
Williams demolished Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic 6-0 6-0 and world number one Hewitt dispatched Nicolas Coutelot of France 6-2 6-3 6-3.
Coming on the heels of the lengthy Safin-Kiefer clash, Williams finished off Lucic in a tidy 50 minutes, including a timeout for a trainer to tend to Lucic's blistered feet.
Third seed Jennifer Capriati matched the performance of Williams in the evening session as she sailed past fellow American Bethanie Mattek 6-0 6-0.
In other easy women's first-round matches, sixth seed and two-time winner Monica Seles of the United States cruised past Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary 6-3 6-3; number seven seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium thrashed Conchita Martinez Granados of Spain 6-1 6-0 in 42 minutes; 10th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France whipped Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-2; and number 14 Chanda Rubin of the United States crushed countrywoman Jill Craybas 6-1 6-3.
In a pair of evening matches, number 11 Andy Roddick of the United States defeated Dutchman Martin Verkerk 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-4, and seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain got past Wayne Arthurs of Australia 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 7-5.