Wimbledon 2017: Andy Murray cruises into third round
WIMBLEDON, England — World No. 1 Andy Murray cruised past Dustin Brown of Germany 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the Wimbledon second round on Wednesday.
Murray came into Wimbledon having passed up playing two scheduled exhibition matches the week before because of a sore hip.
“Once I got the break in the first set I could feel the momentum was with me,” Murray said. “I played well. Until the last three games, which I didn’t serve well, I served particularly well the rest of the match. And I moved really well.
“It’s okay,” he added, regarding his hip. “I moved well the first couple of matches so it feels well.”
The Briton showed no signs of the hip injury as he dominated the 97th-ranked Brown in the match. He never offered Brown a break point opportunity and capitalized on five of 10 break points the German offered.
In the entire match, Murray posted only five unforced errors and a comfortable 31 winners. In contrast, Brown had 30 winners, but a high 28 unforced errors, statistics which ended up negated each other.
Brown is a flashy player with occasional signs of brilliance on the court, but he often lacks the discipline needed to played consistent tennis on a regular basis.
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Murray, a Wimbledon champion in 2013 and 2016, is looking to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time in his career. He’s won three Grand Slam titles to date, with his first coming at the 2012 U.S. Open.
This is Murray’s 12th time playing Wimbledon and he’s never failed to reach the third round. His earliest defeat at Wimbledon came in the third round - his only third round loss here - in his first main draw appearance in 2005.
Murray’s only played Brown once before. That outing was also at a Grand Slam - the 2010 U.S. Open, and Murray won that encounter in straight sets.
Murray’s 2016 season was stellar. He won Wimbledon, defended his Olympic gold medal, captured the ATP year-end final, and scored six other titles.
This year he hasn’t come close to duplicating that success and has only hoisted the trophy at the Dubai tournament in February.
PHOTOS: Best of the Wimbledon early rounds