MELBOURNE PARK, Australia – World No. 4 Andy Murray booked his place in the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Thursday.
“I served well today,” said the Scot. ” Obviously got off to a better start here. He struggled at the beginning, and I was making a lot of balls. He made quite a few mistakes.
“Then I thought towards the end of the second set, beginning of the third especially, he started playing much better. He was taking the ball early, trying to come to the net, made it difficult.
“But I served well and didn’t give him any chances, so was happy. ”
Murray commentted on hitting 41 winners in the victory, “I hit the ball better tonight. Probably eight or nine of them were volleys up at the net. Won quite a few points coming forward knocking volleys off.
“Yeah, like I said, because I served well, I set the point up with my first serve pretty well. Got quite a few short replies off of that. “Served a few aces, too. That was probably why I hit more winners.
“The unforced errors were down. Often the guy who hits pretty much ‑‑ 90%, 95% of the time, the guy who hits the least unforced errors wins the match. That’s important as well.”
Murray will face another Frenchman, Michael Llodra, in the third round.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori had to rally to win against Australia’s Matthew Ebden3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in Margaret Court Arena while 19th seed Viktor Troicki was stopped by Mikhail Kukushin 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
Richard Gasque,, the 17th seed, moved on when his opponent Andrey Golubev retired in the third set with an abdominal strain.
In ladies action, No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova survived a major test from Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 2-6 6-4.”I mean, it was very important match to have like this in this tournament. It’s good that I through and I have won, said Kvitova.
“I mean, she played very well in the second set. It was very tough for me to get back in the third. I mean, yeah, she was very, very good opponent. I mean, you know, she beat here Venus and she’s playing very well.”
Karen Pestaina for Tennis Panorama News