TNT Sports
Murray storms past Groth, Konta wins and Jamie Murray also through as Brits shine in Melbourne
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Published 21/01/2016 at 06:33 GMT
Andy Murray executed his game-plan to negate the one booming weapon that Sam Groth possessed to beat the unseeded Australian 6-0 6-4 6-1 and advance to the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Eurosport
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Murray had said after the first round that he knew exactly what to expect against Groth -- big serve and a large frame to chip or pass at the net -- and the 28-year Briton did exactly what he needed to leave his opponent scrambling from the outset.
The world number two took 29 minutes to race through the first set, which included a nine-minute fourth game, and while Groth's serve found its range in the second, Murray still managed to pull out the big points when he needed.
Murray continued his momentum into the third set, racing out to a 3-0 lead that he built on to set up a third round clash with Joao Sousa of Portugal.
Murray mad more aces than Groth - 10 to six - and won 82% of the points on his first serve.
The Scot said he enjoyed the challenge of taking on a big server, even if it did pose problems.
“I think it’s nice to play different game styles," he said. "A lot of the guys play a quite similar game nowadays and Sam’s obviously quite different – coming to the net a lot and trying to get forward at every opportunity. So that’s nice.
"But obviously when he serves well, it’s easy to get impatient. You don’t touch the ball sometimes for a whole game. He started off the match not serving so well, which helped me. When he picked his serve up in the second set, it became much tougher.”
Murray wasn't the only British winner of the fourth day: Johanna Konta, conqueror of Venus Williams, beat China's Zheng Saisai 6-2 6-3 to make the third round of the women's singles.
Konta kept up the momentum following her landmark win on Tuesday as she breezed past China's world number 83. Next up for the British number one is Czech Republic world number 66 Denisa Allertova.
And as if that weren't enough for British fans to get excited about, Jamie Murray and his doubles partner Bruno Soares came through their opening match in the men's doubles.
Murray, who made two Grand Slam doubles finals last season - at Wimbledon and the US Open - enjoyed a 6-3 6-4 win over another Brit, Jonathan Marray, and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
That win will come at the cost of some domestic harmony, however: Murray and Marray are actually flat mates in their temporary home in Melbourne.
Watch every shot of the Australian Open with up to 16 courts live on Eurosport Player
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