US Open: Andy Murray defeats Russian Alex Bogomolov

Despite a sluggish performance Andy Murray has made it to the second round of US Open 2012 after defeating Alex Bogomolov Jr with 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

The two hours and 15 minutes match saw London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Murray giving one of his weakest grand slam performances of the year. In his first outing at the Flushing Meadows, Murray landed only 50 percent of his first serves in court.

In the first set only the world No 4 put eight out of 29 of his first serves on their target and was broken four times in the match. Although Andy Murray was never in danger of losing to Bogomolov, but such a scratchy performance – especially a ragged display of serving, can be a threat in future.

Murray admitted his struggle on the US Open’s first day saying, “I was struggling on serve but managed to come through. That’s the most important thing. The conditions were tricky. It was very windy. It’s slower out there. It’s about getting used to playing on that court when it’s breezy and you have to do a lot of running and defending. I struggled with that but did well when I needed to.”

He rated his performance “a six or seven out of ten.” “You want to play your best tennis at the end if you can. I will need to improve, that’s for sure. But aside from serving, I played pretty well,” he told the BBC reporters.

In second round Murray, 25, will meet Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, who thrashed Japan’s Hiroki Moriya with 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. Dodig, the world No 32, has reportedly never gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam tournament in his career, which raises hopes that with a more consistent display next time Murray will easily overcome him.

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