As much as Andy Murray may have appreciated the solid workout provided him courtesy of teenage American Ryan Harrison first up, just as appealing to him would be a straight sets comfortable entrance into round three.
In theory, he should be denied the easy option due to the stature of his opponent - France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Not that his height caused a problem, more the fact that he was no mug when talking professional tennis, currently ranked 101 but regarded more highly than that.
Well Andy's regard did not scale any heights at all - the mean Scot punished the French guy relentlessly in the first set, with wonderful ground strokes off both wings. Edouard made few inroads, holding a single serve, and surrendering meekly to Andy's demands at other times. The first set took only a few minutes to roll through, with Murray making few mistakes. 6-1 in a canter.
Set two and a demand of more invested energy from Andy. The fourth seed clearly retained the dominance but numerically it subsided somewhat. The relaxed persona contrasted to the intense Scottish visage through most of the Harrison match, and the release of pressure was directly proportional to the ease with which quality shots fired from the racquet. One break of the French serve served as suffient for Andy to win the set 6-4 and take another forward step closer to round three.
That was also sufficient for me to gauge the level at which Murray at placed himself in the Aus Open on the fourth day. I had an appointment on Rod Laver Arena to keep and so I entrusted the fortunes of Andy with the remainder of the Highly sensible Hisense crowd. [Postscript: Score at the final siren: Andy Murray victorious 6-1 6-4 6-4]
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