Murray eases through in New York
Date published :
01 Sep 2010 - 19:19:46
Britain's Andy Murray got his US Open campaign off to a seamless start with victory over Lukas Lacko in the first round at a sweltering Flushing Meadows.In temperatures nudging 100 degrees in New York, Murray, 23, eased past the Slovakian world number 71 6-3 6-2 6-2.
The British number one produced his full repertoire of shots as he wrapped things up in under two hours.
Murray faces Dustin Brown in the second round after the Jamaican beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.
Murray's fellow Scot Elena Baltacha plays Petra Kvitova in the second round on Wednesday, with their match scheduled fourth on Court Six at around 2200 BST.
Murray must be delighted knowing the toughest player in his quarter, Tomas Berdych, has been eliminated MlleRevers Murray, who reached the US Open final in 2008, never looked in any danger as he comfortably saw off the threat of Slovakia's Lacko, who was making his tournament debut, at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The fourth seed looked at ease despite the sizzling heat which had already seen 10th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus collapse on court in her second-round match against Gisela Dulko.
"I managed to get through in straight sets so I'm pleased, but it was a lot tougher than the score suggests," said Murray.
"Everyone in my box always tells me it's a lot tougher watching in the heat than playing but I'm not so sure. They were brutal conditions."
Murray began with two aces and only had to wait until the fourth game to break, a lovely drop shot and a clinical lob proving enough as he consistently controlled the tempo of the contest.
Lacko's best chance seemed to be at the start of the second set when he produced an outrageous shot with his back to the net to help him break back at 1-1, but after that Murray once again took control and two more breaks enabled him to go two sets in front.
With his opponent tiring Murray took advantage to go through his full array of shots, with the drop-shot proving a particularly successful weapon against the 22-year-old.
Lacko double faulted twice in the third game of the third set to once again hand Murray the initiative and after clinically breaking again in the seventh game, the Scot served out to love to secure a straight sets win and get his championship bid off to a flier.
