Murray cruises into third round as Nadal falls at Wimbledon

Andy Murray has reached the third round at Wimbledon as he crushed Robin Haase 6-1 6-1 6-4. The Dutchman was expected to give the Brit a stern test, but Murray thoroughly dominated to complete a straight-sets victory over Haase, who was far from his best.

In the opening set, Murray was rampant, but the Brit did not have to do much to gain the advantage. Haase was too aggressive and committed the errors, as Murray ruthlessly punished his opponent to break the Dutchman’s serve three times. The 2013 Wimbledon champion was solid, but exhibited moments of brilliance at times, when a perfect lob sealed the double break and a deep backhand return clinched a routine first set 6-1.

Unfortunately for Haase, he was still unable to find his range in the second set as Murray continued his momentum. The Dutchman was unable to get a foothold at all, and a double break advantage ensured that the Brit would take a two set lead in remarkably quick fashion. The second set was sealed when Haase netted a backhand under pressure from Murray’s penetrating groundstrokes, as the Dutchman simply had no answer to the Brit’s dominance.

In the third set, Haase improved his level to at least make the match more competitive, but he was unable to make an impression on Murray’s service games. At 3-3, the Dutchman finally cracked as a double fault and a wild forehand miss handed the Brit the lead once again. Murray maintained his concentration and stepped up his aggression when he needed to crush any hope of a revival from the Dutchman. Three exquisite passing shots set up match points, and a netted backhand from Haase concluded a very convincing display from the Brit.

Murray will now face Andreas Seppi in the third round after the Italian needed five sets to beat Borna Coric.

In the other matches, James Ward beat Jiri Vesely 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-3 to continue British success, and both Roger Federer and Jo Wilfried Tsonga also eased through. In addition, Tomas Berdych enjoyed a comfortable win over Nicolas Mahut.

However, the biggest shock of the day came when Rafael Nadal made yet another early exit at SW19 as the Spaniard was upset by an inspired Dustin Brown in four sets. The world number 10 was a potential quarterfinal opponent for Andy Murray.

On the wormen’s side, Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki and Sabine Lisicki all progressed into the third round.