He was clearly some way below his best, but number one seed Sam Querrey still had far too much class for Chilean qualifier Jorge Aguilar as the American teenager got his XL Bermuda Open campaign off to a victorious start yesterday.

There will be much tougher battles ahead for Querrey than this 6-2, 6-4 win on a wind and rain-battered Centre Court at Coral Beach — most likely in the shape of a quarter-final clash with the in-form Argentine Mariano Zabaleta tomorrow.

But apart from a sudden and quite unexpected wobble at the beginning of the second set, where his mind seemed to wander and he suddenly found himself 4-1 down, the man many believe will eventually step into Andy Roddick's shoes as America's leading player never really had to extend himself during his hour and five minutes on court.

After one year in the pro ranks, the 19-year-old California native has developed a reputation for being extremely approachable and laid back, and on first sight it is easy to mistake his undeniably casual on-court demeanour for a lack of effort and intensity.

But not unlike Roger Federer, Querrey is somehow able to cover large amounts of ground without really looking like he's trying while he also has the rare ability to make even the most difficult shots look impossibly easy — particularly when stretched on the forehand side where he pulled off a number of spectacular cross-court winners past an advancing Aguilar.

In fairness to the Chilean, despite his obvious limitations he never once looked intimidated, seizing on every available opportunity to attack and pumping his fist in celebration almost every time he won a point.

But despite Aguilar securing a break of serve and a three-game lead in the second, once Querrey had regained his concentration it was absolutely no contest, with the American reeling off five straight games to take the match in style.

Meanwhile, the cold and showery weather which has dogged the Island all week continued to suck any semblance of atmosphere out of the early stages of the tournament yesterday.

Despite the organisers' obvious excitement at having such a talented up-and-coming player in the draw this year, at the mid-way point of the first set there were a total of 11 spectators in the otherwise deserted bleachers while as usual, the corporate hospitality areas were poorly populated.

It was hardly the raucous environment Querrey is accustomed to playing in when he competes back in California, where a 700-strong group of friends from his old high school known as "The Samurai" have become renowned for appearing at his matches covered in body paint and making a huge amount of noise playing musical instruments.

Querrey, however, didn't appear overly-concerned by the virtual silence that accompanied even his very best winners and was just happy to be off court and into the next round.

"I was a bit lackadaisical at the start of the second set — I'm not sure why that happened exactly but I definitely went to sleep and let him back in," he said.

"But the main thing was that I got myself together and came back strongly after that and took the set with not too much trouble.

"The weather's not been great and it was definitely windy out there today, but the last few tournaments I've played at have all been affected by the wind so it was not as if I wasn't used to it.

"There's been a lot of waiting around so far this week, but as a tennis player you get used to that sort of thing because it happens all the time. Dealing with the boredom is the hard part, and you end up playing a lot of cards and listening to music all day!

"Overall though it was good to finally get on court and get the first round out the way and hopefully I'll build it up during the week."

Querrey will now play the unseeded Austrian Daniel Koellerer today.