It was a joyous comedy of errors as the ball flew off Yen-Hsun Lu’s racquet high into crowd and was dropped by the man who sought to catch it, before the woman beside him recovered it then attempted to throw it back on court, only to fail to get it that far and instead hit another spectator. Then, with Andy Murray ready to get the next point underway, someone else threw the ball back onto court where, perhaps a little surprised at the extra work, the ball boy slipped as he went to retrieve it from the net.
There were almost as many errors in that sequence as the man whose serve had triggered it, made in the course of a match which had begun with his serve being broken, generating a reaction which suggests others will be well advised not to get him angry in future.
Not that there was much evidence of ire. He was demanding of himself as ever, but only because the standards he demands of himself are ridiculously high.
Two opponents who could not contrast more with one another, have now been remorselessly despatched. Where left-handed Englishman Liam Broady had been, in tennis terms, an innocent abroad as a 22 year old just making his way in the tough world of the professional game, so right-handed Yen-Hsun Lu is a veteran traveller, who is very familiar with this environment, in as much as the 32-year-old from Taipei has considerable experience of taking on the best and is the only man ever to have beaten Murray in a singles match at the Olympic Games.
It would be going too far to suggest that the man who had run up nine wins in 10 matches on grass in second string Challenger events ahead of this tournament is at home in this company, admittedly, unlike Murray who was done a particular favour in the choice of court for this match.
It is traditional that no player, however favoured, gets to play on Centre throughout the tournament, but the organising committee can surely be forgiven ensuring that the day’s main attraction is protected and so, with the threat of rain still in the air after the Wednesday programme had been ravaged by the weather, there was little doubt even before the day’s schedule was revealed that Britain’s number one would be among those on Wimbledon’s main stage.
His decision to serve first having backfired as it did he summed up the situation and patiently awaited the chance to level which arrived in the sixth game when a do or die drop shot from Lu went wide.
A drop shot winner before he drew his man to the net then top spun a perfectly weighted lob over him, helped make light work of the next as Murray cranked things up and now Lu appeared to realise where he was and what he was up against as he lost his next service game to love, a set that had threatened to run awkwardly for the Scot now on the brink of being won with just half an hour played.
Four minutes later Murray had recorded his third successive break and sixth successive game and while Lu was not beaten, edging 0-15 ahead in the next a point which saw him send Murray all over the court, only for the second seed to make an astonishing chase to get to a drop shot and play a winner, made clear Murray’s determination to give him no chance to get back into the match.
This was Murray at his best… tennis at its finest. Touch, power, court speed, racquet control, imagination, improvisation were all in evidence, while he frequently made his opponent play that one extra shot, often reaping the benefit.
At times he almost seemed to be trying things out as he moved his opponent around, but Lu was surely too dangerous for that and this was merely Murray using his full range to ensure that the match took no longer than required.
That is considered important because there are those, Novak Djokovic’s coach Boris Becker among them apparently, who reckon that a crucial difference at last month’s French Open was that Murray had a tougher route to the final, in particular coming through two attritional five set matches in the opening two rounds.
So, in registering his first two wins here Murray has been on court for a total of three hours 22 minutes, close to four hours less than he spent negotiating the first two rounds in Paris.
However psychologically at least, perhaps the more telling comparison is with Djokovic who has been inconvenienced for more than two hours in both his matches at this Wimbledon so far, precisely three quarters of an hour more than Murray in total.
Who knows whether that will make the slightest difference should they meet a week on Sunday, but in terms of battery reserves it is advantage Murray after two rounds this time around.
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