Andy Murray coasted in to the third round for the third time after a very convincing display against Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

The Young Scot broke the former Wimbledon semi finalist Malisse a total of 6 times and looked in superb form. He almost effortlessly swept aside Malisse 6-4 6-2 6-2 in just over an hour and half on Centre Court. Andy Murray will now face former world number 2, Tommy Haas, the German though only currently ranked 38 world.

Murray took controll of the match in the game five when he broke Malisse for the first time in the match, he went on to hold serve in the rest of set andwent up two breaks in the second, despite Murray dropping one of those breaks back to Malisse, Murray would go on to break again for a third time in the set. He wrapped up the third with another two breaks to run out the comfortable victor. After the match Murray said,

Overall I thought I served really well, I lost my concentration a little at the endof the second and the middle of the third but I played well, although my ground strokes could have been a bit better but it’s very windy out there. It’s nice to get off the court in straight sets in my first two matches.

Although Malisse who is only ranked 226 at the moment, the former world number 19 and former Wimbledon semi finalist was thought to be an opponent who would test Murray. The Belgium who is only 27 has suffered from injuries and lack of form recently, but his grass court performances have historically been good, but from the moment Murray secured the first break, the momentum was with the Brit and the match was soon in the bag.

Andy Murray’s win today against a player he was expected to beat was in great contrast to his predecessor Tim Henman’s Wimbledon matches. Henman, who would often struggle to put away lower ranked players usually put the centre court crowd through the ringer and struggled to get the job done in less than 5 sets. There are clear differences between Henman and Murray – The obvious one being that Murray has a complete all round game and has no real weakness, but perhaps he handles the expectation of a British crowd a little better. 

Murray had to wait a little longer to win the match after Malisse challanged Murray’s winning ace. There was a lengthy delay because the umpire did not hear the challenge in time and by looks of it had turned his equipment off, but after a few minutes Hawkeye visual appeared and the Scot’s ace was good!

Andy Murray will continue his 2008 Wimbledon campaign later today against Belgium’s Xavier Malisse in the second round. Murray has not failed to reach the third round in his two previous Wimbledon campaigns.

Murray’s match again will take place on centre court and will be second on after Britain’s Anne Keothavong opens on Centre Court against Venus Williams.

Xavier Malisse has missed much of the last season with a wrist injury which is why he has a current ranking of 226, though his results have not been great since returning from that injury, he managed one win at Queens club before losing to Lleyton Hewitt. He went out in first round of two masters events played on Clay and was not invited to the French Open.

He has actually only managed two wins in a row once this season, though Malisse is a former Wimbledon semi finalist back in 2002, so by no means should he be taken lightly by Murray.

The two have never met, though Malisse has played a Brit on centre court before, back in his 2002 on his run to the semi finals, he beat a slightly past his best Greg Rusedski in the fourth round. So he shouldn’t be worried about playing in front of the British crowd, Malisse said yesterday,

Of course Andy will be favourite and he’ll have the whole country behind him, but I’m used to that situation,” he said. Once you’re into the match, it’s a great atmosphere. But once you’re on the court you want to win and that’s the only goal I’ll have in my mind.