On a Friday filled with marathon matches, top seed Andy Murray avoided a similar fate by breezing into fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 29 seed Sam Querrey.
"I thought I did pretty good today,” said Murray, who admitted his right ankle his right ankle felt better. “The start of the match was hard [as] Sam came out serving big. He was really going for his shots. The end of that first set was important. He had a break point at 3-4. When I saved that and broke the next game, the momentum was with me. I started to serve a bit better and put a lot more returns back in play after that.
"I think I've played a little bit better each match. There's not been one thing I've been delighted with. I thought I moved much better today than I did in the first two matches, which is really positive for me… Hopefully I keep getting better."
Murray didn’t drop serve once in the first two sets, keeping his unforced error count to just 13 (compared to 23 winners) and drawing Querrey into prolonged baseline rallies. He was also impressive in blocking Querrey’s powerful serves back, breaking the American three times to take a commanding two-sets lead.
Both players traded early service holds to start the third set, but the top seed was in control of most of the exchanges. In the ninth game, Querrey took his eye off a backhand volley after Murray scrambled up a low ball and soon paid the price.
World No. 1 Murray, who is seeking his first Australian Open title after finishing runner-up here five times (2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), is through to the Last 16 for the ninth straight year (48-11 match record).
Next up for the Briton is Mischa Zverev, who reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career by spoiling Malek Jaziri’s 32nd birthday with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win in two hours and 21 minutes. Murray leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 1-0.
Alexander Zverev, the No. 24 seed, will be hoping to join his older brother, Mischa, in the fourth round when he plays 2009 titlist and ninth seed Rafael Nadal on Saturday. If he does win, the Zverevs would become the first brothers to reach the fourth round of a major championship since Emilio Sanchez and Javier Sanchez at the 1991 US Open.