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By Mike Dickson in New York
Perfect start: Andy Murray eased through to the second roundOnly mad dogs, Englishmen and a particular Scot would have been inclined to go out in the midday sun at steaming Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.
Hurricane Earl is on its way to lash America’s Eastern seaboard but until it arrives, the extreme heat that has marked the early rounds of the US Open was going to be one more opponent for Andy Murray.
The other was little-known Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who provided a decent workout for the World No 4 but was unable to seriously hinder the start of his latest quest for a Grand Slam title.
Playing in the full blast of what is expected to be the last day of the heatwave, Murray prevailed 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 111 minutes with what was an impressive display of attacking intent.
At the same time his prospects of mounting a serious challenge only improved when the men’s draw
witnessed what is, in this era of 32 seeds, an unusually significant upset for a Grand Slam first round.
Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon semi-finalist who Murray would have been expecting to meet in the quarter-finals next week, was beaten 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 by the athletic serve-and-volleying Frenchman Michael Llodra.
Of the main contenders’ first round showings, the British No 1’s was arguably more impressive than Roger Federer’s - miracle shot et al - and certainly superior to that of Rafael Nadal or five-set survivors Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling.
Delight: Andy Murray was well satisfied with his performanceIn the second round, Murray meets Jamaican Dustin Brown, the World No 113 who built a mini fanbase in the UK when playing on the grass courts this summer.
‘It was tricky out there, pretty hot and windy,’ said Murray. ‘It was difficult but then Australia, when you play right in the middle of the day there, that can be really brutal.’
This was the kind of occasion when Murray’s decision to spend preparation periods in Miami looks all the smarter, those punishing hours spent training in the humidity of south Florida adding to his air that now intimidates other players.
The last time the 23-year-old Scot was on the skyscraping Arthur Ashe Stadium it was in the 2009 fourth round when, hampered by a niggling wrist injury, he made a limp exit against Marin Cilic.
What Murray needed to avoid here was getting unduly detained in 90-plus heat by the World No 72, so as to conserve his energies for more arduous battles ahead. This might be more necessary if the forecast is saying that his schedule could be even more condensed by Friday’s play being washed out.
It was also his first Grand Slam match for nearly three years without Miles Maclagan sitting in his corner. Instead, Spaniard Alex Corretja is in the front seat, while behind him was the ever-influential figure of mum Judy.
Lacko comes from Bratislava, home town of that wonderful former top-tenner Miloslav Mecir, whose style is sometimes brought to mind by Murray’s baseline prowling.
The Slovak, 23, is certainly no mug and his flat groundstroking is well suited to this stadium, where the balls lose their fluff quickly and tend to fly through the court.
On this showing, Murray appears set on recreating the attacking blend he found in his recent victory at the Canadian Open. He was keen to shorten the points from the off by using dropshots and we even saw the chip-and-charge early on, although Lacko’s stinging passes showed why this tactic is, sadly, threatened with extinction in the modern professional game
Where's the crowd? Murray played in front of a sparse audienceMurray broke six times in all and his frustration at Lacko’s continuing resistance in the third showed how keen he was to get out of the match in under two hours.
The charbroiling temperatures were of no consequence to Brown, who comfortably saw off the higher-ranked Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 7-6, 7-5. The Jamaican, who was partly brought up in northern Germany and resides there, has fallen out with his home federation and this summer made vague noises about trying to change nationality to British.
This despite there being no apparent link to the UK apart from the fact that, unlike most tennis players, he knows what cricket is. With his mane of dreadlocked hair, a camper van to take him around tournaments and unusual whipped forehand he is a genuinely charismatic presence in a sport subsumed by rigorous professionalism.
Second best: Lukas Lacko In the unlikely event of him turning himself over to the Union Jack - there have been no serious advances made by him or the Lawn Tennis Association yet - he will get the chance in the second round to measure himself against the gold standard of British tennis.
American tennis, which despite four top-20 players is anxiously looking for a superstar who might replace Andy Roddick one day, was delighted to see its best prospect stun 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic.
Ryan Harrison, the 18 year-old son of a Texan tennis coach, overcame the veteran Croat 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 and enhanced his reputationas being among the world’s most promising teenagers.
source: dailymail
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