Murray showed none of chinks that led him to being broken three times in a set on Tuesday, appearing to be on auto pilot as he bullied Haase into submission. PHOTO: REUTERS
Third seed Murray, the 2013 champion, brushed aside Robin Haase, the world number 78 from the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in just 87 minutes.
The 28-year-old fired 25 winners past Haase and goes on to face either experienced Italian Andreas Seppi or highly-regarded 18-year-old Croatian Borna Coric.
“I started quickly and Robin was a little bit slower at the beginning and then he started to come back in it,” said Murray after his fourth win in five matches against his fellow 28-year-old. “That was the sort of match I was expecting at the end of the second and the third set where he was making it tough. We were playing some longer rallies. He has good variety in his game so there were some fun points.”
However, the women’s draw opened up even further when Russian eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova, a quarter-finalist in 2014, went down 6-2, 7-5 to unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Before 2015, the world number 65 Rybarikova had never won a match at Wimbledon in seven years of trying.
Makarova joined third seed Simona Halep, seventh seed Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded nine, in failing to get beyond the second round.
Rybarikova goes on to face Belarus qualifier Olga Govortsova who put out French 25th seed Alize Cornet 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-1.
Cornet had knocked Serena Williams out of Wimbledon last year.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki made it through to the third round with a 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) win over Denisa Allertova, the world number 83 from the Czech Republic.
Wozniacki, who has never got beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon, next takes on Italian 31st seed Camila Giorgi.
Also going into the third round was German 18th seed Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 runner-up, who fought back to defeat Christina McHale of the United States 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Lisicki next meets French Open semi-finalist Timea Bacsinszky, the 15th seeded Swiss.
Thursday’s action started late due to rain which came as a welcome relief to fans and players who had
sweltered in record temperatures of over 35°C on Wednesday.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2015.
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