World No. 1 Andy Murray suffered an injury scare on Wednesday night at the Australian Open when he rolled his right ankle during a 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 victory over qualifier and #NextGenATP teenager Andrey Rublev.
Murray, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, will next meet American No. 31 seed Sam Querrey, who lost only three of his first service points to beat 17-year-old Australian wild card Alex De Minaur 7-6(5), 6-0, 6-1 in one hour and 48 minutes.
“I played pretty well tonight,” said Murray. “It was better than the first match. I was hitting the ball a bit cleaner [and] I was hitting through the court more. [There were] more winners. I was able to get myself up to net more. I served way better, too. That helps you and allows you to dictate more points. My second serve was harder than the other day. Most things were better tonight, but still think I can improve.”
The 29-year-old Murray needed 63 minutes to open up a two-sets lead, but at 1-1 in the third set he suffered an ankle injury, which the tournament doctor checked. World No. 56 Rublev was competing at his second Grand Slam championship.
“I don't know how bad it is,” said Murray, who received icing on his ankle post-match. “Just normally if it's something like severe, a serious ankle injury, you can't put weight on your foot. [With] ankles, you normally feel a bit worse 20 or 30 minutes after you stop moving around on them. It just a little bit stiff just now. It's okay. I don't think I've done too much damage.
“I haven't played (Querrey) for quite a while. He's obviously a dangerous player. Big serve. Goes for it. Obviously, he had a big win a couple of slams ago against Novak [Djokovic] in the [Wimbledon] third round. I'm aware of that, and I'll be ready.” Murray leads Querrey 6-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with their last clash coming in a Davis Cup tie in March 2014.
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