• Wimbledon

Murray relieved after comfortable win

June 25, 2014

Andy Murray said he was grateful for a quick win as he cruised through to the third round at Wimbledon with a convincing straight sets defeat of Blaz Rola.

The defending champion was too strong for his Slovenian opponent, dismissing him in imperious fashion with a 6-1 6-1 6-0 victory.

"I played well today, but this is the first year he's played on grass," Murray said. "He's just come out of college and broken into the top 100, so it was tough for him today. But he'll keep improving because he's got a good game.

"I just had to concentrate on my side of the net today. I took care of my serve pretty well for the majority of the match and thought I played well."

Murray admitted he was relieved to be able to complete the win in just 84 minutes after enduring several marathon matches at last month's French Open.

"I feel like [expending energy] cost me a bit at the French Open," Murray said. "Not necessarily that I would have beaten Rafa in the semis even if I had felt perfect, but I played a lot of long matches there.

"If you can finish matches as quickly as possible, it definitely helps in the long run."

Forced out to a sun-drenched No.1 Court after his first round victory over David Goffin on Centre, Murray wasted little time in dismantling Rola, breaking the World No. 92 in the opening game.

Rola, who said his motivation was "off the charts" ahead of the second-round clash, threatened to unleash a big first serve against the British No.1, but Murray looked far more at home in front of the SW19 crowd.

After flying through the first set in just 28 minutes, Murray survived the minor distraction of losing a ball from his pocket mid-rally in first game of the second set to make another early break of the Rola serve.

Murray went on drop just one game in the second set, although he repeatedly chastised himself for even the smallest of unforced errors.

Playing in just his third senior tournament on grass, former American college champion Rola had little answer to the pace and accuracy of Murray's serve and the defeat is the latest in a poor run of results against British opponents this year.

Rola was knocked out of both French Open qualifying and the first round at Queen's by Murray's Davis Cup team-mate James Ward, who before the match admitted to giving Murray's hitting partner Dani Vallverdu tips on how to deal with the left-hander.

Whatever advice Ward gave certainly appeared to work as Murray again set about breaking his opponent in the first game of the third set. To his credit, Rola survived two break points, but Murray completed the job at the third attempt before breaking Rola again in the fifth game to take the third set 6-0.

Murray will meet Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round on Friday after the No.27 seed defeated Jan Hernych 7-5 4-6 6-2 6-2.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd