ANDY Murray made light of a misfiring start to coast into the third round of Wimbledon with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 win at the expense of Yen-Hsun Lu. The 32-year-old from Chinese Taipei, still the only man to overcome Murray in Olympic singles duty, has grass court pedigree and had been forecast as a stern test for the World No 2 early in the tournament. But the outcome could hardly have been more different here than Lu's first round victory against the Scot at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. At the same time as the No 2 seed in the women's event, last year's runner up and reigning Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza, was crashing out of the event, the Scot took just 100 minutes to progress to a third round meeting with John Millman of Australia. For the second round running he had progressed without dropping a set, just in time to beat the rain.
"The first set was tough," said Murray. "I went down a break early then there were a lot of close games in that first set. I think he had break points in the 5-3 game but I settled down, in the third set I started hitting the ball a lot better. There were a few raindrops starting and when it is close and the rain is coming you are anxious to get it done. If you can win matches easily, then it helps. Mentally the days aren't as draining either. I just try to do my best, work hard, keep my head down and hopefully have a good tournament."
Compared to the bearpit it was for Marcus Willis on Wednesday night, Centre Court was like a cathedral when Murray and his Taiwanese opponent walked out in mid afternoon, and the main soundtrack was one of excited whispering when some ill judged shots from the World No 2 and a smart drop shot from Lu saw the Scot's serve broken for the first time in the tournament.
It was an errant start from Murray, while everything Lu was touching was hitting the lines, but it couldn't last and some sterling defensive work from the Scot soon was driving the man from Chinese to Taipei to distraction. From 3-1 down in that opening set, Murray permitted his opponent just three more games. He had a few crisis points to survive towards the end of that first set as Lu aimed to get back on serve at 5-4, but the Scot kept calm and his chances of a second title win at Wimbledon this year remain as rosy as ever.
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