Not even the hottest day so far in Melbourne for the Australian Open could cause Andy Murray many problems on his way to his straight sets and straightforward victory over Marinko Matosevic today. The Aussie hope was soundly beaten in well under two hours by the British world number six player 6-1 6-3 6-2, as temperatures rose beyond 30C.
Having only recently beaten Matosevic in the mixed-team Hopman Cup event Down Under, Murray would have gone into the match full of confidence in his chances of progressing to the next round, but also wary of the home fans' support potentially raising his opponents' performance on the day, as they have done for several of the local favourites already this tournament.
Boasting a near faultless head-to-head record over the world number 77-ranked player, with no losses and indeed no sets lost to the man at the other side of the net, Murray seemed determined to maintain his superiority and those statistics.
He was relieved to steamroller his way through the match so quickly, both to conserve energy for the expected tougher matches that lie ahead, but also more immediately to escape the high temperatures in which the match itself was played. Murray never really gave the Aussie much of a chance in the match, despite some close games in the second and third sets, clinching the vital points at the right times throughout.
Murray now moves on to play the Portuguese player Joao Sousa in the third round.
With a world ranking around the top 50 in the world, the 25-year-old should not cause Murray too many issues one would expect, and the third round is the furthest that he has so far progressed in the Slams. He is however considered to be the greatest player that Portugal has ever produced, after his victory in the 2013 Proton Malaysian Open claimed the first ever ATP tour title by someone from his country.
Sousa benefitted from the forced retirement of his opponent in the second round, as Martin Klizan from Slovakia (the number 32 seed) pulled out of their match in the fourth set after the first game, with the match score two sets to one in favour of the Portuguese player at the time.
