Andy Murray reaches Australian Open 2013 third round

 

Australian Open

  • Venue: Melbourne Park
  • Date: January 14-27

Coverage: BBC Sport website (daily live text commentaries); 5 live sports extra (commentaries) & TV/online streaming (both finals)

Andy Murray wasted little time in the Melbourne heat as he swept past Portugal's Joao Sousa to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

The US Open champion won 6-2 6-2 6-4 on a fiercely hot Hisense Arena to reach the last 32.

Match analysis

Image of Jeremy Bates Jeremy Bates Former British number one and BBC Radio 5 live expert

"That was not his absolute best tennis, but you can only beat who is in front of you. Joao Sousa did well hanging in there for the whole match, but it was an efficient day's work from Andy Murray. He has not played Ricardas Berankis who he faces in the next round, but he is such a good tactician on court now, adapting to the opponent across the net."

He goes on to face Lithuania's world number 110 Ricardas Berankis, who had an impressive win over 25th seed Florian Mayer.

Murray needed just one hour and 41 minutes to see off the 23-year-old Sousa, playing only his third match in the main draw of a Grand Slam.

Sousa had said beforehand that he hoped to find a weakness to exploit in the Scot's game, but he was outclassed from the start.

"I got up a couple of breaks pretty quickly in the first two sets so I could kind of play," said Murray. "I don't mean loose points, but I could try to shorten the points, which helps.

"I also served well too. I got a lot of free points off my serve. There were very few long rallies, so it worked out well for me because they were really, really tough conditions."

Asked if it was the toughest he had played in, Murray added: "It wasn't that bad on court. When the sun came out, it was extremely hot. When it wasn't, it was fine.

"There was no humidity. When you get the combination of the heat and the humidity is when it's normally at it's worst. I've played in worse conditions, but it's still very hot."

Match stats

Murray Sousa

14

Aces

3

58%

1st serves

62%

0

Double faults

1

28

Winners

17

22

Errors

33

80%

1st serve win %

63%

66%

2nd serve win %

45%

44%

Receiving pts won

26%

5/8

Break points

0/0

Murray's power and movement kept the Portuguese off balance from the outset and he moved 5-1 clear off the back of a break to love.

Sousa attempted to mix it up with some largely unsuccessful trips to the net but Murray's passing game was too strong as he took the opening set in 31 minutes.

A framed forehand form the world number 100 at the start of the second continued the Murray procession as he raced into a 4-0 lead.

A love hold soon after put Murray two sets up in little over an hour, and a sleepy atmosphere in the stifling conditions was only livened up by a burst of song from the Briton's supporters.

"Come on the other guy!" shouted one spectator, but Murray was looking for the quick kill and broke for the fifth time at the start of the third set by closing in on the net and forcing an error.

That proved enough for the British number one to see out the victory and head back to the relief of an air-conditioned locker room.