Australian Open 2017: Andy Murray beats Sam Querrey to reach round four

Top seed Andy Murray made short work of American Sam Querrey to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open.

The Briton, 29, won 6-4 6-2 6-4 on the Hisense Arena, the third show court at Melbourne Park.

Murray, who hopes to finally win the title after finishing runner-up five times, goes on to face Germany’s Mischa Zverev, the world number 50.

Fellow Briton Dan Evans takes on Australian 27th seed Bernard Tomic later on Friday.

“I felt better and better as the match went on in terms of my movement,” said Murray, who had turned his ankle during his previous match.

“I was a little bit hesitant maybe at the beginning. It was a little bit sore but I was moving well at the end, so that was very positive.”

• Live scores, results and order of play
• Champion Kerber cruises into last 16
• Feature: Has Djokovic’s desire burned itself out?
• How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC

Murray makes no mistake

Querrey was the man who upset then world number one Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last summer, but Murray made sure he did not fall victim to another shock after the Serb’s surprise defeat by Denis Istomin on Thursday.

With six-time champion Djokovic out, Murray is a clear favourite among many observers to finally land the third leg of the career Grand Slam.

Querrey gave the Scot plenty to think about in the early stages of their third-round match, attacking the net and hurrying the top seed, but a first-serve percentage of just 57% was not enough to keep Murray at bay.

The American missed a fleeting chance with a break point in game eight and Murray immediately took advantage, getting the break himself in the next game with a beautiful lob.

He took a firm grip on the match with a run of six out of seven games, easing through the second set with two more breaks.

Murray punched away a winner to break at the start of the third set but there was a flurry of resistance as Querrey reeled off three straight games to lead 3-2.

There was no sustained comeback, however, as Murray once again turned up the pressure with his return of serve to break for a fifth time on his way to a comprehensive victory.

“Sam, especially in the first set, was hitting a huge ball,” added Murray.

“There was a key moment at 3-4 when I saved a break point and then managed to break the next game and had the momentum after that.”

Wawrinka through in tough section

Murray will start as a strong favourite against Zverev, but there is plenty of danger lurking on the Scot’s side of the draw.

Former winner Stan Wawrinka, the US Open champion, is through to the last 16 after a 3-6 6-2 6-2 7-6 (9-7) win over Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.

The Swiss, a potential semi-final opponent for Murray, will play Andreas Seppi next after the Italian beat Belgian Steve Darcis 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-2).

Should Murray get past Zverev on Saturday he could face a daunting quarter-final against four-time champion Federer, seventh seed Berdych or fifth seed Kei Nishikori, with Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko the outsider in that section.

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Istomin Upsets Djokovic In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

Istomin Upsets Djokovic In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

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Raonic Defeats Muller In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

Raonic Defeats Muller In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

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Thiem Tops Thompson In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

Thiem Tops Thompson In Australian Open 2017 Second Round

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Top Seeds Advance, Defending Champions Ousted

Top Seeds Advance, Defending Champions Ousted

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Novak Djokovic: Australian Open champion knocked out by world 117 Denis Istomin

Defending champion Novak Djokovic suffers a shock defeat by world number 117 Denis Istomin in the second round of the Australian Open.

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Australian Open 2017: Britain's Andy Murray and Dan Evans prepare for third round

Britain’s Andy Murray has no injury worries heading into his third round match against American Sam Querrey at the Australian Open on Friday.

The world number one was assessed by a doctor after rolling his right ankle in Wednesday’s win over Andrey Rublev.

Murray is due to feature in the second game on the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, where play begins at 00:30 GMT.

British number four Dan Evans is also in action as he takes on Australia’s Bernard Tomic following Murray’s match.

• Live scores, results and order of play
• Six-time champion Djokovic knocked out
• Analysis – Has Djokovic’s obssession burned itself out
• Williams and Nadal progress in Melbourne
• Konta wins but Watson and Edmund lose
• How to follow the Australian Open on the BBC

Murray in pole position?

Murray admitted his ankle still felt sore on Thursday, but the Scot was able to practice unhindered and spent an hour and a half training on Court 17 at Melbourne Park.

“Thankfully I can put weight on it and I was moving around fine in practice,” said the 29-year-old. “Once I started moving around it felt all right.”

Murray has reached the Australian Open final five times and lost on each occasion, with four of those final defeats coming against Novak Djokovic.

The Scot replaced Djokovic as number one in the world last November and, after the Serb suffered a shock second-round exit to world number 117 Denis Istomin, Murray is being touted as the favourite to win in Melbourne.

“You always pick the number one in the world as favourite, so I had Andy Murray,” two-time Australian Open finalist Pat Cash told BBC Radio 5 live. “But five matches is a long way to go.”

Murray remains focused on Friday’s meeting with Querrey, who beat Djokovic at Wimbledon last year and knocked Jamie Murray and partner Bruno Soares out of the men’s doubles on Thursday.

“The most important thing will be to serve well because that then puts pressure on his service games,” said the British number one.

“I’ll just try to make as many returns as I can. Once I get in the rallies I should do OK.”

Evans eyes third round

Murray’s compatriot Evans is aiming to make it past the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

He previously beat Tomic in four sets in the second round of the US Open in 2013, but Tomic won their last encounter at the 2015 Davis Cup.

The pair also met in Miami in 2012 when Tomic’s father suggested Evans – then ranked in the 300s – was not good enough to practice with his son.

“I’m not going to bother saying anything about that again,” Evans said.. “He confronted me about that. We’ll leave it at that.”

Best of the rest

Defending champion and world number one Angelique Kerber will play Czech Kristyna Pliskova, four months after beating her twin Karolina in the US Open final.

Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka plays Serbian Viktor Troicki while Roger Federer will face 17th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.

Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, who reached the Wimbledon final in 2014, meets American Coco Vandeweghe and Venus Williams plays China’s Ying-Ying Duan.

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Sock's Sense Of Belonging

Sock's Sense Of Belonging

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Cash fears Djokovic's best days are behind him

Novak Djokovic has “lost his edge” and is “a shadow of what he was at his peak”, says 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash.

The defending champion lost in five sets in round two of the Australian Open to world number 117 Denis Istomin.

The Serb, 29, won four Grand Slams in a row between 2015 and 2016 but has made only one of the past three finals.

“If we were doubting it before, we confirmed he’s not the same player he was six months ago,” said Cash.

Speaking to BBC Sport, the Australian added: “[Thursday’s defeat] just shows that Novak has absolutely lost his edge, there’s no doubt about that.”

• Watch: Cash reflects on Djokovic exit
• Analysis – Has Djokovic’s obsession burned itself out?
• Live scores, results and order of play
• Konta wins but Watson and Edmund lose
• Williams stays on course for record win

Djokovic – who has slipped to number two in the world with Andy Murray taking the top spot in the rankings – completed a career Grand Slam in June 2016 when he beat Murray in the French Open final, but has struggled for form since then.

The loss to Istomin was Djokovic’s earliest exit from the Australian Open since 2006, when he was beaten in the first round by American Paul Goldstein.

“I’d love to see him competing, to be a true number two fighting for that number one spot, but at this rate I don’t think we will see that,” Cash said.

“It’s clear that it’s a mental thing. He’s done everything he needed to do and wanted to do in his career.”

Djokovic denies lack of intensity

Six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic double-faulted nine times in an error strewn performance against Istomin.

He denied he had lost intensity since completing the career slam, adding that he “forgot about it” when he began a new season.

“It’s not a time now to go so deep into it. I didn’t reflect on that at all at this stage,” he said.

“It’s just that, it’s one of these days when you don’t feel that great on the court, don’t have much rhythm, and the player you’re playing against is feeling the ball very well.”

Since winning the French Open in June, Djokovic has been knocked out in the first round of the Rio Olympics and lost both his US Open title and his status as world number one.

“It’s not like this technique has fallen off. There’s obviously a big confidence thing, but now he makes mistakes and it is a mental thing,” Cash added.

“Maybe it’s his time to say I’m not quite the same player that I was but I can still perform well.”

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Australian Open 2017: Serena Williams and Milos Raonic reach round three

Six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams reached the third round with a straight-sets win over world number 61 Lucie Safarova on Thursday.

The American, 35, attempting to win an Open Era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title, won 6-3 6-4 in Melbourne.

Czech Safarova, who lost to Williams in the 2015 French Open final, failed to convert any of her six break points.

“I’m really happy to have got through that,” said world number two Williams, who won in one hour and 25 minutes.

“It’s never easy having to play in a second round against someone you have seen in a final. I’ve played two former top-10 opponents, but it’s a great way to start the tournament.”

• Live scores, results and order of play

Williams lost the Australian Open final last year to Angelique Kerber, but went on to win at Wimbledon and equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

She will continue her bid for the record against 23-year-old Nicole Gibbs, who beat fellow American Irina Falconi 6-4 6-1.

Third seed Radwanska loses to world number 79

Poland’s world number three Agnieszka Radwanska suffered a surprise second-round exit to Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

The 27-year-old, who has reached two semi-finals in Melbourne in the past three tournaments, lost 6-3 6-2 to the 34-year-old world number 79.

Fifth-seed Karolina Pliskova beat 18-year-old Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova 6-0 6-2 in 59 minutes, meaning the Czech has dropped just four games en route to the third round.

“I don’t want to say my opponent wasn’t that good, but I was better,” said the 24-year-old, who faces Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko next.

Raonic fights cold to reach third round

Third seed Milos Raonic reached the third round of the Australian Open for the seventh time with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4) win over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.

The Canadian 26, hit 21 aces as he set up a meeting with France’s Gilles Simon, who reached the quarter-finals in Melbourne in 2009.

“I started feeling a little bit of a cough but I didn’t think much of it, then this morning I felt pretty bad waking up,” he said.

“I came out with the sort of idea of put everything into the match, try to solve it, understand the importance of the mental side of things in that situation.”

World number 15 Grigor Dimitrov also moved into the next round with a 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over Korea’s Chung Hye-on.

He will face France’s Richard Gasquet after his 6-1 6-1 6-1 win over Argentine Carlos Berlocq. Former world number three David Ferrer beat American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 to set up a tie with Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.

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