Wawrinka a difficult player - Murray
September 04, 2010 09:47:55 UK
Andy Murray will face Swiss opposition in the third round of the US Open - but it will not be Roger Federer on the other side of the net.
Murray takes on 25th seed Stanislas Wawrinka on Sunday at Flushing Meadows after easing into the last 32 with a 7-5 6-3 6-0 victory over Jamaica's Dustin Brown in just 85 minutes.
The fourth seed has a 5-3 career record against Wawrinka, including a memorable five-set victory at Wimbledon last year in the first full match to be played under the Centre Court roof.
But it will perhaps be the memories of their meeting here in 2008 which Murray will focus on, the Scot winning 6-1 6-3 6-3 on his way to the final.
"He's a very, very difficult player," Murray admitted. "I had a match with him at Wimbledon that was one of the best atmospheres I played in.
"He's had a lot of close matches with top players before so I'm going to have to play very well to win that one."
Andy Murray is 1.083 to beat Wawrinka, while the Swiss can be backed at 7.00 to triumph in the third round match.
As for his victory over Brown, Murray was pleased to be able to silence the world number 123's vociferous supporters once he got to grips with the 25-year-old's powerful serve.
"I'd never played him before so at the start of the match it was very interesting," Murray said.
"He went for his shots huge and was hitting fun shots so I was glad to get off in straight sets.
"I kind of knew what to expect coming into the match. I've been told he likes to put on a bit of a show beforehand. The crowd obviously enjoy watching that but it went from being a great atmosphere at the end of the first set to just pretty quiet because there wasn't a whole lot going on out there.
"I started well, didn't really give him many chances. I've not really ever seen him play before. He has a very fast service action, so it took a few games to start to read the serve a little bit.
"I just had to focus on playing solid and making as many returns as possible. When you play as high-risk tennis as that, it's difficult over five sets to keep it up."
Brown, who used to travel around Europe in a camper van to play low-key tournaments, said: "In the beginning I thought I was staying with him and he came up with a really good game, breaking me at 5-6.
"It's not bad losing to Andy Murray. I'm definitely not upset, that's why it was a good first set. The other two sets he started getting more comfortable and definitely returning really well.
"I only know him from watching him on TV. I wasn't worrying about him too much, I just tried to play my game and make sure that I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do.
"I wasn't trying to go out there and worrying too much about the opponent. If you do that, then you're just gonna go nuts out there. I lost 5, 3, and 0. It happens."
Andy Murray is 10001.00 to win the US Open 2010, with Roger Federer available at 2.10 and Rafael Nadal 2.00.
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