Andy Murray blitzes Anderson to progres
- Monday, January 18, 2010, 11:51
- Tennis
- 602 views
- Add a comment
Andy Murray overcame pre-match nerves and some wayward serving to muscle into the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-1 6-2 demolition of South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.After breezing through the first two sets in exactly an hour, the fifth-seeded Briton’s charge to victory was halted momentarily when he was broken while leading 3-1 in the third under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena.
But the Scot, who holds Britain’s hopes of ending a 74-year wait for a men’s grand slam singles champion, mowed through the next four games to seal the win.
Despite exerting complete control from the start, Murray confessed to feeling jittery in his first match against the South African qualifier, who had never got past the first round of a Grand Slam.
“He didn’t get broken in the whole qualifying,” Murray said. “I was a little bit nervous at the start but broke him straight away.”
Although finding the target on only 35 per cent of his first serves, the Scot clubbed nine aces and 37 winners.
He also felt secure enough to play a few frivolous low-percentage shots in a match that appeared more like a training run for the Briton.
“I’m not worrying about (my serve), though. It’s the strong part of my game,” said Murray, who next faces the winner of the match between France’s Marc Gicquel and Simone Bolelli of Italy.
“They’re both good players. Gicquel I played once before … He’s a tough player, a lot of experience, pretty quick. Bolelli is very talented. Can hit the ball huge from the back of the court. But I played really well against him the last couple times,” the 22-year-old added.
Elena Baltacha made it a winning double for Britain, beating Pauline Parmentier of France 6-4 3-6 7-5.
The 83rd-ranked Briton said she had “nothing to lose” in her second-round encounter against Ukraine’s 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko, who beat Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-2 7-6.
“She’s a very good player. She’s a seed, so I can just go out and just play tennis now without getting tight, and just give it everything I have,” she said.
British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin 521) and British Eurosport 2 (Sky 411 / Virgin 525) will be providing daily coverage from midnight of two matches which are also simulcasted on the Eurosport Player.
In addition, you can watch your choice of any of these seven courts LIVE and on demand on the Eurosport Player. Any matches that are not being shown on either British Eurosport or British Eurosport 2 will be commentary free.
All courts start at 00:00 GMT
Other Article
About the Author
admin has written 257 stories on this site.
Write a Comment
Gravatars are small images that can show your personality. You can get your gravatar for free today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
