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Tuesday Sep 24, 2024
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REUTERS: If defending champion Andy Murray needed a further test for his sore hip, the dread-locked drop-shotting Dustin Brown was probably it.
The world number one was repeatedly dared by Brown to dash in from the baseline and scramble for a ball dying on the grass - but after his comfortable 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory the Briton said he felt good and that he had moved well.
Murray gave as good as he got – and better – playing many of the same shots with more accuracy and control in a quickfire 96 minute palate-cleanser for the Centre Court crowd after the earlier epic three-setter won by compatriot Johanna Konta.
“If he has a problem with his hip, I don’t want to play against him when his hip is good,” Brown told reporters.
Brown, ranked 97th, was a potentially dangerous opponent, having beaten twice champion Rafa Nadal in the second round in 2015. But he showed the frailties of such high stakes hotshot tennis, racking up 28 unforced errors to Murray’s five.
The home fans loved the show, though, temporarily forgetting their wildly partisan support for the Briton as Brown casually sliced and diced the ball over – and frequently into – the net.
In the first game of the third set, the German acknowledged a shout of “We love you Dustin” by raising his racket to the crowd before serving.
But for all Brown’s flare, it was Murray who remained in control throughout and never looked like losing.
“He started very well and was coming up with great drop volleys and really going for the returns,” Murray said.
“Once I got the break in the first set, I felt the momentum was with me, I was starting to see the shots he was going to play a little bit quicker and that allowed me to get to some of the drop volleys and also come up with some good passing shots.”
The top seed’s win was greeted by huge cheers from a crowd hoping to see the 30-year-old twice champion become the first British player to retain a grand slam title since Fred Perry in the 1930s.
After seeing off maverick Wimbledon debutant Alexander Bublik in round one and the clash with Brown, Murray faces another showman, Italian 28th seed Fabio Fognini, in round three.
“Certainly, the first two matches have been, difficult to come up with game plans, because you don’t know exactly how the two guys are going to play,” Murray said.
“I think against Fabio ... it’s maybe easier to come up with a game plan because there will be a bit more structure and strategy in the match rather than just, reacting and sort of more kind of instinctive points.”
REUTERS: Rafa Nadal continued his imperious run of form as he swept aside American Donald Young 6-4 6-2 7-5 in the Wimbledon second round on Wednesday.
The two-times champion was rarely troubled by an opponent ranked 43rd in the world who chose to slug it out from the back of the court against the supreme Spanish baseliner.
The fourth seed, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, will face Karen Khachanov in the third round. The 21-year-old Russian is tipped to be a future winner of grand slams.
“It might look easy at this moment in our sport, because there are three players that won 18, 15, and 12,” he said, referring to Roger Federer, himself and Novak Djokovic.
“But it not a very long time ago when (Pete) Sampras had 14, and it looked like nobody was going to have the chance to increase that number,” Nadal added.
“Karen is a great player, he has chances to win a lot. But then there are other good players out there.”
On current form, few people would bet against Nadal.
The 31-year-old, fresh from winning his 10th French Open title last month, was roared on by the crowd and he seemed to be able to produce winners at will with his swashbuckling forehand.
Young, 27, sought to mix up his play in the third set by rushing the net and he broke the Spaniard’s serve. But in the end there was nothing he could do to prevent the Nadal juggernaut rolling on.
As Nadal left Centre Court, he was slightly taken aback when a fan asked him to sign a prosthetic leg, but he politely agreed.
Asked whether that was the strangest thing he had autographed, he chuckled: “Probably not”.
