THE perspiration-drenched sweatband whistled inches past the ear of the wife of the future king before being caught by the chairman of the All England Club.

Perhaps Andy Murray was making a point. The Duchess of Cornwall, after all, had been overheard saying 'I hope you win' to Rafa Nadal after being introduced to the Mallorcan on the players' lawn.

While she ended up with an impromptu memento to remember her afternoon by - the sweatband in question ended up in Camilla's handbag - throughout this imperious 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 second round victory, she also witnessed the Scot at his regal best. It was a royal command performance which banished any rebellious thoughts which Robin Haase might have dared to dream of and bolstered hopes that the man who would be king can indeed reclaim his Wimbledon crown.

He (and she) had been exiled onto Court No 1 for the day, a chore which all the top players must endure once each tournament. An open, windy arena where a noticeably different vibe comes into play, it is a minor indignity to be slotted in at a moment of least disturbance to your tournament schedule. But slumming it out on Wimbledon's secondary arena certainly didn't seem to do the World No 3 much harm. The Scot held court, in a stadium where he has never lost.

This comprehensive victory continues his record of always reaching at least the third round here and on this form the Scot's SW19 journey still has a distance to travel. By the time the 2018 championships come round, Court No 1 will have a roof but even the odd spots of rain which fell towards the end of the first set obediently refused to come to anything.

The 28-year-old Dutchman, World No 78 now, but runner up in the boys' event here back when Murray was announcing himself to the world in 2005, is a dead ringer for Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former Manchester United striker. This was a rude awakening for him all right. Murray had memorably experienced cramp in his hamstrings and forearm during the last of the four previous meetings between these two men - a first round meeting at least year's US Open - but from the moment Murray went for the jugular early on there seemed little chance of the Dutchman cramping his style yesterday.

If that one could be put down to an unspecified error in Murray's preparation, he could hardly have planned this one out any better. His dominance in this match was total from the moment - just as he had done during that restarted Roland Garros semi-final - when the Scot exploded out of the blocks like an Olympics sprinter. He went from nought to 6-1 in just 20 minutes, making just one unforced error in that first set, leaving Haase grateful for the paltry nine points he collected. The Dutchman, whose serve supposedly is a fearsome weapon, was broken three times.

The only disappointment for everyone in attendance yesterday was the brevity of the occasion. The players were exchanging a handshake at the net again just one hour 27 minutes after they started. This was just seven minutes longer than Murray's biggest, fastest ever win at SW19, which came in last year's second round, when he steamrollered Blaz Rola of Slovenia. For the record, that was also played on Court No 1.

While the Scot's first serve percentage in that first set was only 38%, the same kind of levels he had chided himself for during the second set of his first round match against Mikhail Kukushkin, it was his aggressive return game which really set the tone. Murray has always been one of the finest returners in the sport, but the enlisting of Jonas Bjorkman signals an intent to wield that stroke as an offensive weapon, to be used early and often, particularly against the second serve.

So it proved against Haase's faltering delivery yesterday. The Dutchman didn't win a single point on his second serve during that second set, while Murray - for all the criticism of his second serve delivery - won all eight of his in the first. Six times during the match, this 28-year-old from Netherlands was so freaked out by what fate awaited him that he double faulted.

Some of the strokes will live long in the memory, such as the one where Haase failed to get enough purchase on a smash and the retrieving Murray swatted it sweetly into the open court. There was also the cutest of cushioned cross court volleys. But most of it simply adhered to the old cricket mantra of line and length. There was an upsurge in the Dutchman's performance about halfway through a second set in which he did at least earn a break point, but the end result ultimately was still the same.

By this point we had entered full-on Norris McWhirter mode, wondering whether the stats of this one would beat that 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 victory against Rola. That was somewhat disrespectful to a player of Haase's capabilities. He steadied the ship even further in the third set, the perfectionist in Murray coming out again when he exclaimed in anguish and gestured to his box after one rare error. When Haase left a drop shot apologetically halfway up the net, though, his resurgence foundered. Against an opponent who lives in The Hague, the home of the War Crimes tribunal, by the end this was the tennis equivalent of a mercy killing. Another victory - his 22nd in his last 23 meetings - is in the bag.