Murray 'Blew Off' Brown on Wimbeldon

LONDON - Like a showboating boxer, Brown went through his full repertoire of tricks. But Andy Murray is the heavyweight tennis champion of the world and just picked him off at will, throwing in a few crowd-pleasing punches of his own before stopping the fight in double-quick time.

Murray won 6-3 6-2 6-2 in just an hour and 36 minutes to cruise through to the third round.

And although the match was short, the defending champion had to do a lot of running and it was encouraging to see how freely and quickly he was moving.

After the earlier high drama of Jo Konta’s epic win over Donna Vekic, the crowd lapped up the light relief of some truly wonderful points and moments.

Brown hit outrageous second serves, drop shots, drop volleys and lobs but couldn’t string enough of them together to worry Murray.

The world No 1 accepted the brilliant winners his opponent came up with but lapped up all the unforced errors he gave in return.

Andy Murray threw in a few crowd-pleasing punches of his own before stopping the fight in double-quick time

And Murray played some incredible shots of his own, especially on his way to the break of serve in the fifth game of the second set which effectively killed the match.

The defending champion will play Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the third round.

After the three British wins earlier in the day, it will be the first time Britain has had four players in the last 32 of the singles events since 1997.

“He started well and was going for the returns but once I got the break in the first set I had the momentum with me. I saw the shots quicker and I played well," Murray said after the match.

“Until right at the end I served well. He wasn’t able to attack my second serve like he tries to do. That was positive and I think I moved pretty well,” he addded.

There were fears Murray would not be able to defend his Wimbledon crown this year after his recurring hip problem flared up before the tournament.

But he insists it has not hampered him so far at SW19.

“It’s OK, I moved well in the first couple of matches, it has not affected me and I feel good. I hope it stays that way but so far I’m very happy,” he said.

“I’ve played against two guys with tough game styles but I did very well, I concentrated very well and put a lot of returns back in play. I did not give too many free points. It’s been a good start and hopefully I’ll keep it going,” Murray added.