Murray, Sharapova headline day two at Open

Maria Sharapova of Russia serves to compatriot Elena Dementieva during the final match at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament in Toronto August 23, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World number two Andy Murray will sample New York's unique spotlight on Tuesday when the Briton begins his U.S. Open campaign on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The second-seeded Scotsman, runner-up last year to five-times champion Roger Federer and still looking for his first slam title, opens against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia on a tennis stage he unabashedly loves.

"Saw a few night matches and loved it," Murray, 22, said about his love-at-first-sight of the featured night matches when he was winning the U.S. Open junior title in 2004.

"I wanted to have the opportunity to play in one of them. It's just a very, very different atmosphere to the other grand slams if you look at the crowds and the way the matches go on center court with the big screen and the music.

"You know, the stars that come to watch. It tastes a little bit different from the other ones."

Day two at Flushing Meadows also features top seed Dinara Safina of Russia against Australian Olivia Rogowska, and fourth-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic taking on Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

Opening the evening program ahead of Murray will be 2006 champion Maria Sharapova, who missed last year's tournament with a shoulder injury. The 22-year-old Russian plays her first-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)