Aus Open: Murray into third round with dominant win

Murray completely outplayed Sam Groth 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour 31 minutes and will next play Portugal's Joao Sousa in the third round.

Published : Jan 21, 2016 11:54 IST , Melbourne

Andy Murray in action in his second round match against Australia's Sam Groth.
Andy Murray in action in his second round match against Australia's Sam Groth.
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Andy Murray in action in his second round match against Australia's Sam Groth.

World number two Andy Murray demolished big-serving Australian Sam Groth in straight sets to reach the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday. Murray completely outplayed the holder of the world's fastest serve 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour 31 minutes and will next play Portugal's Joao Sousa in the third round.

Murray dissected Groth's booming serve with a variety of precision lobs, ankle-high returns and unerring passing shots, all mixed in with the Australian's volleying errors. "It's nice to play different game styles, a lot of the players play quite similar games nowadays and Sam's obviously quite different, coming to the net a lot," Murray said.

"When he serves well it's easy to get impatient as you sometimes don't touch the ball for a whole game. He didn't start off the match serving so well which helped me and when he picked up his game in the second set it became much tougher."

A significant match statistic was that Murray served more aces than 67th-ranked Groth 10-6, while breaking the Australian's powerful serve seven times. The Scot broke Groth's first three service games to take the opening set in 29 minutes, leaving the nonplussed Aussie shaking his head.

It took until his fifth service game that Groth held serve for the first time to the roar of the home crowd, with the Australian raising his arms in mock triumph. Groth, 28, got his first break point in Murray's seventh service game and broke back when the Scot's forehand was long.

The Australian began to get his game together but Murray still got his fifth service break to take a two sets to love lead when Groth's crouching volley was wide on break point. Murray drilled down with two more service breaks in the third set to wrap up a convincing win, with Groth finishing in pain from an apparent twisted right ankle as he made a net approach in the final game.

Groth is credited with the fastest recorded serve of 263 kilometres (163 miles) per hour, which he hammered at an ATP Challenger event in South Korea in May 2012.

Isner moves into third round in straight sets

Renowned marathon man John Isner needed two tiebreakers before putting away Spaniard Marcel Granollers to reach the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday. The beanpole American 10th seed, who is expected to lead the United States in their Davis Cup tie in Australia in March, won 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2) in two hours 20 minutes on Hisense Arena.

Isner, who is looking to surpass his best Australian Open performance of reaching the fourth round, will play either Spain's Feliciano Lopez or Guido Pella in the third round. Isner is well remembered for his 2010 Wimbledon defeat of Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, winning 70-68 in the fifth set in a first round match that lasted just over 11 hours - with a final set of eight hours and 11 minutes.

Raonic beats Robredo with one service break

Milos Raonic beat Tommy Robredo in unusual fashion at the Australian Open on Thursday when he secured victory with the only service break of the match - after nearly three hours of play, and in the very last game.

The big-serving Canadian finally broke Robredo's serve at the 12th attempt and in the 36th game to win it 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 and reach the third round after two hours and 55 minutes. Raonic's reward is a round of 32 meeting with either Serbian 21st seed Viktor Troicki, who won last week's Sydney International, or American qualifier Tim Smyczek.

The Canadian 13th seed, who reached the quarter-finals of last year's Australian Open where he lost to eventual winner Novak Djokovic, hit 24 aces among his total of 75 winners.

The experienced Spaniard Robredo resisted stoically throughout and saved 11 of 12 break point opportunities until he finally crumbled at the crucial moment in the third set.

Men's singles

2nd round

Gael Monfils (FRA x23) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 7-5, 6-4, 6-1

John Isner (USA x10) bt Marcel Granollers (ESP) 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2)

Joao Sousa (POR x32) bt Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1

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