Thursday, January 22, 2009

Murray cruises into third round

Andy Murray
Murray made light work of his opponent

Andy Murray made short work of his second-round tie in the Australian Open by beating 22-year-old Spaniard Marcel Granollers in straight sets.

The fourth seed suffered few scares against his unseeded opponent en route to sealing a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory.

The two traded breaks in the first set before Murray's class told as he won the second and third with ease.

The Scot will now face Austrian Jurgen Melzer, seeded 31, in the third round on Saturday.

Asked afterwards about his tag as favourite for the title Murray replied, "There's a few other players that disagree with that a little bit.

"But I've been playing well the last six or seven months. This is probably the best I've felt going into a Grand Slam.

"I feel that with all the work I did in December and with great support here I can go far."

With centre court still buzzing from the shock defeat of Venus Williams by Carla Suarez Navarro, Murray put on a commanding display hitting 37 winners and rarely looking in anything but complete control.

This is probably the best I've felt going into a Grand Slam

Andy Murray

An early sign of Murray's dominance came in the third game of the match as he broke Granollers, only for the Spaniard to deviate from the script by breaking back in the next game despite at one stage being 40-0 down.

However, Murray reclaimed the initiative with a break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and then seeing the set out on serve.

A double break in the second set courtesy of some fantastic serve-volleying put Murray firmly in charge and from then on the victory seemed a mere formality.

He broke Granollers in the third and fifth game of the third set to wrap up a routine win.

After having his first round match cut short when Andrei Pavel retired hurt, Murray will be glad to seal this victory in less than two hours in cooler night-time conditions with a view to his clash with Melzer in two days time.

"I was two points away from losing to him (Melzer) in the US Open last year," said Murray. "He's a tough guy, a lefty with a big serve and he doesn't allow you to get much rhythm. I'll have to play well."

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