Murray came through a tough four setter against Michael Llodra defeating the Frenchman 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(7) to reach the US Open third round for the third time in four attempts.

The man from Dunblane produced some impressive stats against the resistant Llodra, firing 48 winners to just 13 unforced errors. But the stats do not always tell the story, as error-free as his play was the Scot played the match at a very average level and it was his ability top raise his game on vital points that allowed him to pick up the win. He did drop serve on four occasions and was forced to save two set points in the fourth set tie break before securing victory after 2 hours and 33 minutes.

I was very happy with the match, I thought I hit the ball from the back of the court very well. I didn’t feel like I was making many mistakes from the baseline. Not too many unforced errors. He’s a really tough guy to play against, and I was happy I won in four sets.

Andy Murray is making his fourth straight appearance at the US Open and enjoyed his best performance in 2006 when he reached the fourth round losing to the sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko 1-6 7-5 3-6 0-6.

Murray now himself the sixth seed will be looking to once again reach the fourth round on Saturday when he meets Austrian Jurgen Melzer who thrashed Jiri Vanek 6-0, 6-2, 6-2. Meltzer is ranked 48 in the world and Murray won their only other meeting in earlier this year. On Meltzer, Murray said,

He’s a tough guy to play against, He doesn’t give you too much rhythm. But I feel like I’m playing well just now. I’m confident and I look forward to the match.

After all the effort to make it Beijing, Andy Murray will leave with just one double’s win a two humbling defeats.

Sadly, Andy and Jamie were knocked out of doubles competition at the Beijing Olympics a thumping 1-6 3-6 loss to experienced French pair, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.

Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra are one of the few pairs who have played many times before, and with great success, but recent form in the last 6 months has not been great and hopes were high for the British pair that they could make it through this tough match.

The match was played out on court 4 of the Olympic tennis centre and few people will have seen the Murray’s make their exit.

Andy Murray has received much unwarranted criticism for his first round from some idiots in the media and we will no doubt see this increase in the next few days. His form has been rubbish since being here in Beijing, but he was here and to question his commitment to the Olympics or that his motivations is just money is simply ludicrous.

Murray pulled out of the Indianapolis tennis event 3 weeks ago to be better prepared for the Olympics. Indianapolisis part of 8 tournaments called the US Open Series that are played in the lead up to the US open. Each week Points are gained in each of these events and the winner at the end of the US Open takes home a Bonus from a $1million prize pool. Further to pulling out of Indianapolis, he has sacrificed playing in the US Open series events last week, this week and next week.

Prior to leaving for the Olympics Andy Murray was joint top of the leaderboard along side Rafael Nadal and so to question money has his motivations is just simply incorrect and and s fools point of view.

Though he did play absolute mince this week - long way short of his 6th in the world ranking. This however does not make him a bad person or only in it for money – It just means that he played mince this week!

Andy and Jamie Murray will continue their hunt for a Gold medal for Britain in the tennis doubles event in Beijing against French pairing Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.

The match will be third on number 4 court, which starts play at 4pm (9am UK time), Beijing time, which means the Murray’s will likely take to court arround 8pm (1pm UK time). Court 4 is not one of the main courts and may not have TV coverage.

Clement and Llorda are the 2007 Wimbledon doubles champion, though Jamie has recorded a victory against the pair this year in Indian wells with his regular partner Max Mirnyi.

Andy Murray also has a great record against another French team in doubles he has beaten the French duo Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Mahut twice this year, first at Queens and just two weeks ago in the Rogers Cup.

Since their win at Wimbledon in 2007 the French team have had mixed form, they reached the final of the Australian open this year and since then have not been able to recapture the winning formula, in the last 5 events they have played together they have bean beaten in the first round. However the duo did managed to overcome the third best doubles team in the world, Israelis Erlich / Ram, who were amongst the favorites having been one of the few regular double teams.

It’s a little tough to get odds from all the bookmakers on this one as not all the sites are offering and if they are, they don’t always make it easy to find. Currently at Betafir the odds are slightly in favour of a French win, though only by the smallest of margins.