Murray mauls Martin to claim round two place

Great start: Andy Murray
14 April 2012

Welcome to the new Andy Murray show.

A show of ruthless efficiency, clinical serving, rapier-like groundstrokes and fierce concentration. Not a fluffed volley or an angst-ridden obscenity in sight or earshot.

Of course, Murray's 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 trouncing of Spain's Alberto Martin owed as much to the fumblings of an opponent trying to regain a semblance of form following elbow surgery last October as it did to the Scot's brilliance and we should not expect merciless beatings like this on a regular basis.

Read more

• Sharapova through in searing heat

• Mackin's dream ended

• Nadal eases through

• The day tennis turned nasty

Nevertheless, the ease with which Murray erased a nightmare performance 12 months ago on the same Vodafone Arena was impressive and demonstrated the 19-year-old's growing authority and maturity.

Martin was outclassed and after 17 games, Murray stood four points shy of completing the first 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 triple bagel in a Grand Slam for 13 years. He now faces another Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the second round.

It says everything about Murray's competitiveness that he chided himself over the errors which allowed Martin to avoid utter humiliation.

Even with the loss of a game, Murray's passage into round two took just one hour, 10 minutes, conserving both mental and physical energy for the sterner challenges to come.

"I didn't want to lose a game if I didn't have to," he said. "You probably get one chance in a lifetime to win 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.

"When you're on court, you definitely don't have any sympathy for your opponent. You have to concentrate on your own game and not let that affect you.

"I can imagine it's pretty tough to take, losing like that. And it's not the nicest feeling after a match is finished to have won 17 games in a row."

Murray's cakewalk contrasted with the difficulties experienced by many of the favourites for the men's title in their opening matches.

It also made light of the difficulties of waiting around on a day of intense heat at Melbourne Park that caused an eight-hour suspension of play.

Murray's match was played with the roof closed on Vodafone Arena. Outside, play resumed at 8.15pm with the tennis complex still sweltering in 87-degree temperatures.

At midday, the mercury had tipped over 100 degrees when Murray's compatriot Alan Mackin found himself unexpectedly thrust into the company of Maria Sharapova.

A pale-skinned Scot ranked 270 in the world in men's tennis and the blonde-haired superstar queen of the women's game, the number one seed, both toiled under the Antipodean sun.

Sharapova survived - just, but required extensive liquid replacement treatment after her gruelling 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 win over Camille Pin.

Mackin predictably fell to Nicolas Lapentti - and not just because the Ecuadorean is ranked more than 200 places above him.

Steamy heat is customary in Lapentti's home city of Guayaquil. In Mackin's home town of Paisley, it was barely above freezing yesterday.

Mackin drenched himself in sun block but suffered increasingly as morning flicked over to afternoon and the sun baked his energy dry.

Elsewhere at Melbourne Park, the extreme heat rule by which play is suspended was brought into effect. Sadly for Mackin, the rule only applies to matches which have not yet begun; those in progress are finished.

Mackin's pasty Scottish body could not endure and after two hours, 14 minutes of draining combat, he slipped to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 defeat that ended his honourable week in Melbourne.

To qualify from his ranking and to push as experienced a player at this level as Lapentti was reason to be cheerful even as he downed pints of fluid to replace those lost.

Mackin said: "I know I can compete with higher-ranked players and just qualifying has been good for my confidence. I'm going to try and keep it going now over the next few tournaments.

"I've never played in heat like that before. I was getting tired out there after the second set. It was such a long way to come back."

The 25-year-old journeyman would never presume to tell the Australian Open organisers that it was inhumane to be made to continue playing in such conditions.

Sharapova, on the other hand, is the tournament's biggest female draw and after fighting off exhaustion and breathing difficulties to overcome her French opponent, she spoke out.

Sharapova said: "At 5-all in the third set, I was so delusional, I couldn't think. As much as you want to think about what you want to do to win a point, you just can't.

"It's inhumanly possible to play three hours in that kind of heat. I don't think our bodies were made to do that.

"The rule is that if you start in conditions where the roof doesn't have to be closed, you finish the match. A rule is a rule. Do I like it? Not necessarily, no. All players would prefer to play in better conditions. It's common sense."

Right now, the conditions are suiting Andy Murray just fine.

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