Andy Murray has cruised into the third round of the Australian Open after a dominating 6-0,6-4,6-1, win over home favorite Sam Groth.
Due to Groth’s outstanding serve, some were expecting a close match between the two players. It was however far from that as Murray demonstrated on the court why he is one of the best returners on the men’s tour. Dropping just one point on his serve throughout the opening set, Murray piled the pressure on Groth’s shoulders. As the pressure mounted, the Australian’s usually reliable serve disappeared during the first set. Groth only won 44% of his first serves and 38% of his second. The one-sided start to the match from Murray resulted in the world No.2 taking the first set after 30 minutes.
The animated Australian crowd was muted due to Murray’s dominance against Groth. He continued his surge from the first set, by breaking his opponent for the fourth consecutive time to charge to a 3-0 lead in the second set. After 43 minutes of Murray taking command, Groth finally gave his home crowd something to cheer about when he held serve for the first time in the match. The resurgence from Groth continued in the second set after he broke Murray for the first time in the match before eventually leveling 4-4. Despite Groth’s best efforts, Murray had the ability to tame the Australian. As the world No.67 served to stay in the set, Murray attacked once again to lead the game 40-15, giving him two set points. Murray took the set after a backhand from Groth landed in the tramlines.
After taking the first two sets in just over an hour, there was no danger of Murray losing. Emulating the second set, the Brit converted an early break to lead 3-0. Three games later Murray dealt yet another blow to Groth and his home fans when he converted a double break to lead 5-1. As Murray bossed Groth around the court, the 28-year-old suffered another nightmare on the court. With Murray served for the match, Groth twisted his ankle near the net during the first point of that game. Due to the match appearing almost over Groth decided to continue. The Australian was put out of his misery when Murray sealed the match with an ace out wide.
Australia’s Sam Groth outclassed by world No.2 Andy Murray at #AusOpen today. https://t.co/J4N9sJksDN
— The West Australian (@thewest_com_au) January 21, 2016
During his impressive 91-minute display on the Rod Laver Arena, Murray produced 10 aces (four more than Groth), 35 winners, 11 unforced errors and converted 7/14 break points. After claiming the straight sets win, Murray discussed how different his opponent’s game is compared to other players on the tour.
It’s nice to play different game styles,”Murray said on court afterwards.
“Sam is different coming to the net a lot, so that’s nice, but when he has served well, it’s easy to get impatient because you don’t touch the ball.
“He didn’t serve well at the start of the match, but when he picked up in the second set, it became much tougher.”
The win also extends Murray’s dominating record against Australian players to 16-0 since 2006.
Next up for the Brit will be Portugal’s Joao Sousa. Sousa, who is seeded 32 in the tournament, defeated Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo in four sets during his second round match. Murray has a head-to-head lead of 6-0 against Sousa. The two players also played each other at last year’s Australian Open. On that occasion Murray took the win in straight sets.
