Little fuss for Murray as he eases past Giraldo in Miami

Andy Murray brushed aside Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo with the minimum of fuss in the third round of the Miami Open.
COMFORTABLE: Andy Murray, on his way to victory over Santiago Giraldo at the Miami Open. Picture: AP/Alan DiazCOMFORTABLE: Andy Murray, on his way to victory over Santiago Giraldo at the Miami Open. Picture: AP/Alan Diaz
COMFORTABLE: Andy Murray, on his way to victory over Santiago Giraldo at the Miami Open. Picture: AP/Alan Diaz

A single break earned the Scot the first set before an explosive start to the second helped him complete a 6-3 6-4 victory in one hour and 24 minutes.

The world No 4 continued the commanding form he displayed in seeing off Donald Young on Friday and his opponent, ranked 31st in the world, had no answer.

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Murray, who lost to Giraldo at last year’s Madrid Open, broke for a 4-2 lead in the opening set and closed it out despite struggling with a first serve percentage of 46 per cent.

The British No 1 was taking full advantage of the Colombian’s weak second serve, though, and broke again in the first game of the second set as he raced into 4-0 lead.

But, serving for the match at 5-2, he wasted two match points and, with Giraldo finally finding his range, was broken for the first time in the contest.

Murray regrouped to seal the win, the 499th of his career, on his next service game to set up a meeting with Kevin Anderson in round four.

“I felt like I played a good match,” said Murray.

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“When he started really going for it at the end I lost my timing a bit but I managed to close it out at 5-4.”

Heather Watson’s challenge in Miami ended in the second round as Angelique Kerber won their rain-affected clash which spanned two days.

World No 15 Kerber had edged the first set 7-5 on Friday although a rain interruption meant play was suspended and then abandoned for the day.

The unexpected respite seemed to empower Watson, who at the restart on Saturday broke Kerber to take a 2-0 lead early on, and just about kept the German at bay.

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Watson stuttered on her serve on occasion – even double-faulting twice - but showed enough resolve at the receiving end to break Kerber three times and take the second set 6-3.

World No 41 Watson had already endured a three-setter earlier in the week to reach the second round, and was once again pushing the two-hour mark when Kerber took a 2-0 lead at the start of the third.

The strain was clearly showing as Kerber cruised to a 5-1 lead, and although Watson began a great comeback to make it 5-4, the German had the final word and sealed the match on the Watson serve.

Kerber now faces Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round after she overcame opponent Alison Riske.