• Australian Open, Day Four

Murray makes short work of Marchenko

Andy Murray served superbly against Illya Marchenko © Getty Images

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Andy Murray executed a near-perfect gameplan as he demolished Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 6-1 6-3 6-3 to book his place in the third round of the Australian Open.

The Scot is bidding to go one better than 12 months ago, when he was a beaten finalist, and he is feeling his way into the tournament quite nicely. So often in the past he has suffered lapses in concentration, but this contest mirrored his first-round win over Karol Beck as he made a rapid start and kept his foot on the jugular throughout.

Murray made an early signal of intent with a fine service hold and with Marchenko offering up a passable impression of a startled rabbit, the world No. 5 wrapped up a rapid break of serve as his opponent hit a poor drop shot into the net.

Murray had a clear plan to target the Marchenko backhand, which prompted the Ukrainian to attempt to change things up by making his way to the net. This only served to hand his opponent a target and Murray produced a blistering, dipping backhand to earn a double break of serve.

Marchenko stopped the rot by getting his name on the scoreboard in the sixth game, but it proved to be only a minor respite as Murray wrapped up the first set in 29 minutes - mainly on the back of eight aces.

Murray's level dipped a shade in the second, it would have been pretty tough to play as well as in the first throughout, and Marchenko forced a couple of errors to earn three break points. Murray's excellent serving saved two of the break points, but he threw a forehand into the net to hand his opponent a foothold.

The foothold was not a stable one as Murray hit back immediately - the first of a run of four games on the spin that knocked the stuffing out of Marchenko. The Ukrainian continued to show flashes of quality and at times he and Murray threatened to catch fire at the same time with their excellent hitting and movement around the court. But Marchenko is ranked in the 70s for a reason, and that reason is his lack of consistency. Quality shots fly off his racket, but so do errors in equal measure and Murray wrapped up the second set with a flourish.

Marchenko has never taken a set off a player ranked in the top ten and that never looked likely to change from the moment he surrendered his serve meekly in the sixth game of the second set.

Such was Murray's confidence, he began to serve and volley towards the end of the match and Marchenko had nothing more to offer as the Scot moved into round three and a clash with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

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