Wednesday 14 May 2014 13:44, UK
Andy Murray progressed to the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Marcel Granollers at the Foro Italico.
The British No 1 made light of blustery conditions in the Italian capital to complete the win in an hour and 25 minutes.
Murray, playing just his seventh match on clay this season, ended the contest with a first serve percentage of 82, a figure all the more impressive given the wind he had to deal with.
In the last 16 the seventh seed will face Jurgen Melzer, who defeated Marin Cilic 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 on Wednesday.
"You need to think your way through the match, you have to be patient with yourself," Murray told Sky Sports when asked how he dealt with the conditions.
"I went for a high percentage of first serves today because it was very, very windy and also the sun was coming round from one of the ends, so that was in your eyes.
"All the dust and stuff from the court was getting in your eyes and it was extremely blustery, strong conditions. From one of the ends it was very tough to get any real depth on the ball.
"I just tried to play a smart match, tried to keep the ball low when I needed to and when I had the wind with me I gave the ball a little bit of extra spin to control it."
It was very, very windy and also the sun was coming round from one of the ends, so that was in your eyes.
Murray, whose meeting with Granollers at the same stage last year ended in a back injury which ultimately ruled him out of the French Open, went on the attack from the off but missed an opportunity to break his opponent in the second game.
The Spaniard was broken in the sixth game, however, with Murray putting himself in the ascendancy before sealing the first set by breaking Granollers to love.
Some sloppy play gave Granollers a way back in at the start of the second set, but the world No 31 could not take advantage of Murray's dropped service game and was broken for the third straight time.
Murray squandered the chance to make it four in a row but he cruising through his own service games and held to love three times in succession.
He then fashioned an opportunity to end the contest at 6-5 ahead and although Granollers saved the first match point, a long forehand gave Murray the win soon after.
