Scotland's Andy Murray notched another impressive win at the Australian Open on Wednesday, advancing to the third round with his second straight sets victory in as many matches.
The man charged with ending Britain's 74-year Grand Slam drought in men's tennis disposed of 57th-ranked Frenchman Marc Gicquel in ruthless fashion in one hour and 50 minutes, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
It followed the fifth seed's easy win over South African qualifier Kevin Anderson on Monday, in which he dropped just four games.
Including his Hopman Cup preparation for the Australian Open, the 22-year-old has only dropped two sets in six singles matches in 2010.
All the facets of his game were on display against Gicquel, with his great groundstrokes, deft touch and superb athleticism too much for the determined Frenchman.
Murray, who had also won his only previous encounter with Gicquel, hit 38 winners and sent down 10 aces.
Encouragingly, his first serve percentage was also vastly improved on his clash with Anderson.
Gicquel showed plenty of fight in the third set, recovering from being a break down early, and he was unlucky to be on the wrong end of a bad line call when the Scot made a critical second break in a tight seventh game.
Gicquel bravely staved off two match points, but at his third attempt pushed a backhand long.
Murray is seemingly headed towards a fourth-round clash with French 12th seed Gael Monfils, and then a quarter final against world number two and defending Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal.
Copyright 2010  AFP European Edition
