Murray marches on in Paris

Murray: Easy progression

Acasuso might not be a Federer or a Nadal but I showed I can play on clay. I wanted to show to myself I can do it.

Andy Murray
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Andy Murray turned in one of his best performances on clay to brush aside Jose Acasuso 6-4 6-0 6-4 at the French Open.

The British number one needed just one hour and 38 minutes to see off the Argentine and reach the third round at Roland Garros.

It was all a far cry from the Scot's opening match when he struggled past French wildcard Jonathan Eysseric in five sets.

This time around the deft drop shots and delicate lobs that had gone so wrong in round one were perfectly weighted, while his forehands seemed to gain power the longer the match went on.

Great performance

Understandably Murray was delighted with his display that set up a showdown with Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, who defeated Sebastien Decoud earlier in the day.

"I felt my performances on clay have been decent this year but I keep getting questioned why I'm not doing better," he said. "I wanted to show I could beat a good clay court player.

"Acasuso might not be a Federer or a Nadal but I showed I can play on clay. I wanted to show to myself I can do it.

"To win in straight sets, not lose my serve and break five or six times doesn't happen too often. It's not too often a match goes as well as that.

"I'm very pleased, it was a great performance. I was very aggressive and my shot selection was great."

Early break

After waiting until 7pm to get on court the 10th seed wasted little time in taking control of the contest, breaking Acasuso's serve in the opening game.

Twice he survived break points on his own serve before comfortably serving out for a 1-0 lead, quickly racing out to 40-0 before sealing the set with a crunching backhand that left his rival rooted to the clay court surface.

Just as he had done in the first, the increasingly frustrated Acasuso lost his serve in the opening game of what turned out to be a one-sided second set.

The South American appeared to be hampered by a knee injury as he was blown away in just 22 minutes, Murray going from strength-to-strength to put himself in complete control.

Brief threat

Acasuso at last held serve at the start of a set in the third and threatened to finally provide the contest that so many had expected, including Murray's coach, two-time French Open finalist Alex Corretja.

However, after the first six games went with serve the crucial break came when one of nine double faults from the world number 49 gifted Murray a 4-3 advantage.

The man from Dunblane did suffer a wobble with the finish line in sight, twice being forced to save break points for the first time since the opening set, before completing an impressive victory with the light fading fast.