Murray cruises into US Open third round

Britain’s Andy Murray eased into the third round of the US Open for the seventh consecutive year with a straight-sets victory over Ivan Dodig.

He outclassed the unseeded Croatian 6-2 6-1 6-3 in a hugely one-sided match lasting an hour and 50 minutes.

Murray, 25, followed up his erratic first-round win over Alex Bogomolov Jr with a clinical display on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

He will meet Pablo Andujar or Feliciano Lopez, both Spaniards, in the last 32.

The third seed produced 10 aces and 30 winners and said afterwards that he was pleased to have improved on his patchy opening performance against Bogomolov.

“I thought I played well,” said Murray. “There were a lot of long rallies. I moved my feet pretty well. They were definitely easier conditions to play in, compared with the other day when it was windy.

“I served better. I’ve got a couple of days to work on some things and I’ve got to get used to playing in the day, so I’ll get out there in the heat.”

Dodig, who was on the verge of breaking into the world’s top 30 before a back problem hindered his progress and caused him to plummet to 118th in the rankings, rarely troubled the Scot.

An aggressive Murray, playing close to the baseline, broke the Dodig serve six times, the first of which was in the third game of the opening set when his opponent sent a wayward forehand long.

The Olympic champion broke the Croatian’s serve again for a 5-2 lead and comfortably served out for the set before breaking again at the start of the second set when a double fault, followed by a misjudged forehand, gifted the game to Murray.

Within 70 minutes the British number one had a two-set advantage and victory never seemed in doubt, especially after he broke early in the third for a 3-1 lead.

Dodig squandered two break points in the seventh game, his erratic forehand once again proving his downfall, and it proved to be the 27-year-old’s only sniff as Murray served out for victory.

“When I was a kid I came to watch [Justine] Henin and [Kim] Clijsters in the final. I always wanted to play night matches here and I love it,” added Murray.