Murray smashes past Melzer into last 16
Murray showed glimpses of his best form against Melzer
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Saturday, 24, Jan 2009 09:21
Andy Murray has reached the fourth round of the Australian Open after cruising past Austrian Jurgen Melzer in straight sets.
The Scot showed tremendous form in the second and third sets, streaking away from his opponent, eventually prevailing 7-5 6-0 6-3 to set up a match against 14th seed Fernando Verdasco.
Murray took just one hour 40 minutes to destroy his opponent, largely thanks to a second-set whitewash which took 25 minutes to complete.
It was a match of contrasting styles, with Melzer adopting an all-out attack which garnered 14 winners in the first set and allowed him to stick with Murray.
However, this tactic steadily began to fail him while Murray, easily the calmer of the two on court, gradually began picking off the Austrian with a series of sublime passing shots.
Murray earned the first break of the match towards the start of the first set to go 4-1 ahead. However, Melzer managed to work his way back and levelled things at 4-4.
The rest of the set went with serve until, at 6-5 ahead, the Scot produced a brilliant lob on the run to earn two break points. He needed only one as Melzer hit a backhand into the met to hand Murray the first set.
The second set was an exhibition from the fourth seed. Murray worked Melzer into the ground as the Austrian was forced to zigzag across the court just to stay in points.
Murray broke Melzer three times and had his opponent on the floor gasping for air after he secured the second break.
Melzer almost caused concern for Murray at the start of the third set when he earned a break point but the 21-year-old dealt with the danger to hold serve.
He then cruised into a 5-1 lead, looking imperious at times, before Melzer broke him as he served for the match.
However, the Scot still had a break in hand and made no mistake the second time to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second time in his career.