The crowd favorite and former champion Andy Murray cemented his place as a contender for the title once again through a powerful straight sets victory against the Netherlands' Robin Haase on Court 1.
Haase was unable to create shockwaves in the 87 minutes of playing time as Murray allowed him to win only two games in the first two sets. Despite Murray only being able to serve a low 38 percent of first serves in the first set, he won 100 percent of his second serve points. Moreover, he managed to win 60 percent of his return points whilst Haase only won a measly 8 percent of his. This resulted in the third seed creating four break point opportunities, converting three to take the first set 6-1. It was all business from the Brit taking the set in 20 minutes, a reason why they may have put him out on Court 1 instead of Centre Court.
The second set was a similar story, with Murray winning 59 percent of his return points as well as hitting ten destructive winners. Haase improved on his return game, but this was offset by the third seed improving his first serve percentage to 66 and subsequently winning 79 percent of said points. By not giving the Dutch even a whisker of a chance on important points, Murray broke him twice to take the second set with a scoreline of 6-1 once again.
Haase seemed troubled and uneasy throughout the match—not being able to play his natural game and thus causing the scoreline to be so one-sided. However he lifted himself slightly in the third set to hit the ten winners—the same amount as his opponent. Murray remained completely unfazed, hitting only five unforced errors in the set and creating opportunity enough to break Haase once. He steered himself to victory with a 6-4 in the final set.
Murray's ability to read his opponent well and to lift his intensity when Haase fancied himself a slight chance back into the match is an aspect that can take him very far in the tournament. He will play the winner of Borna Coric vs. Andreas Seppi in the third round.