adminANDY Murray made smooth progress into round three of the French Open with a straight-sets win over Australian Marinko Matosevic.
The Briton, seeded seventh, won 6-3 6-1 6-3 in one hour and 54 minutes on Court One at Roland Garros.
Murray goes on to face 28th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the last 32 after the German beat Denis Istomin.
Heather Watson is due next on Court One to play fourth seed Simona Halep.
Matosevic, 28, was outclassed by the Wimbledon champion in the intimate surroundings of a court often referred to as ‘The Bullring’.
It was the second time the pair had met and Matosevic, making his debut in the second round of a Grand Slam at the 13th attempt, again failed to register a set.
Murray, 27, broke in the very first game when the Australian sent a backhand over the baseline, and the Scot saw off a fleeting moment of danger with an ace on break point in game four.
Matosevic had a chance to get a foothold in the match at 0-40 in game eight, with Murray grinning ruefully as his serve lost its bearings momentarily, but the world number 66 could not convert.
Murray fought his way back to hold serve, and with it he effectively broke Matosevic’s resistance, the Briton then rolling through eight of the next nine games for a two-set lead.
Matosevic repeatedly berated himself, and his team on the sidelines, as Murray’s returns continued to fly back past him.
When he dropped serve once again in a 13-minute game at the start of the third set, the contest was as good as over, and Murray’s failure to serve out at the first opportunity proved more of an irritation than a serious threat.
The 2011 semi-finalist quickly moved to 0-40 in the following game and appropriately finished off the match with another of those backhand return winners that had made Matosevic’s afternoon so difficult.
With the victory, Murray took his career record against Australians to 8-0, and on six of the previous occasions he has gone on to win the tournament. — BBC Sport
derick.khumalo