Andy Murray progressed into the third round of Wimbledon after a routine 6-3, 6-3 7-5 victory over German Tobias Kamke.
The straight sets win over an opponent relatively unknown to the Wimbledon crowd will have, no doubt, given the Scot a confidence boost as he marches through the rounds at SW19.
The decision to play the contest at Court Number One instead of Centre Court, where Murray is becoming used to playing, was controversial, and he had to wait until after 17.00 to get on court after more rain delayed play.
But Murray picked up from where he left off in the match against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, whom he won his last fifteen games against.
The Australian Open finalist will now have to defeat Ivan Ljubicic or Sergiy Stakhovsky to reach the second week of the tournament.
Murray made his presence felt right away, breaking the German in the very first game. The fourth seed didn’t have to do much as Kamke’s unforced errors and a double fault made it a fantastic start for the home favourite.
Murray had opportunities to break for a second time but, as he kept up some good serving, had to wait until the final game to clinch the first set. More errors from Kamke allowed Murray to break to love. The final point was well won by Murray, forcing his opponent to stretch at the back of the court before putting away the ball with his forehand mid-court.
It was the perfect start from Murray, as he settled far better than he did in his first match against Gimeno-Traver.
The second set was much of the same; Murray dominating in his own service and threatening to break more often than not.
Kamke hung in there despite being break point down on numerous occasions, and showed the guts and determination that saw his ranking soar from 254 to 67 in 2010.
But the inevitable happened in the eighth game with two unforced errors gifting Murray the break. The British number one was never going to waste the opportunity to take a two set lead, serving it out 6-3.
Murray, in truth, wasn’t anywhere near his best, nor did he need to be, but he still looked very comfortable out there on Court One and was able to play the big points well.
Kamke was dogged in the third set, not allowing Murray to simply run away with it and making him work for every game. The German showed everyone why he was voted ATP newcomer of the year in 2010.
The tightest set of the match, there were few opportunities for either to make an impact on the other’s serve. However, class came through in the end, as more errors from the German in crucial points helped Murray earn three break points which he took on the second attempt through a double fault from Kamke.
Murray showed few nerves as he calmly served it out to wrap up the match 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.
