The British No 1 won 6-4 6-2 on the clay and will continue the defence of his crown against either David Ferrer or Tomas Berdych. Murray shrugged off his sluggish start to break back in the sixth game. I used my variety well and served well. “It was a good performance”.
Advertisement
Murray did well to maintain his focus after a lengthy delay as a crowd member was taken ill when he led 4-2, and wrapped up the win with a cheeky exchange at the net to ease into the next round.
“I didn’t return that well at the beginning”, Murray said in an on-court television interview after the match.
“But when I got into a rhythm, I was able to dictate a lot of points”.
World number one Novak Djokovic is also in action when he takes on Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Three booming forehand winners gave Stepanek, ranked 148 in the world, a break of the Murray serve in the very first game.
The fifth-seeded Nadal served four aces, won 100 percent points on his second serve, and broke his opponent’s serve thrice throughout the match to extend his winning streak to 11 matches, having previously emerged victorious in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
Advertisement
However, he responded immediately to break the Gasquet serve for the fourth time in the match before serving it out at the second attempt.
