Murray And Henman Into Second Round
Britain’s number one Andy Murray moved into the second round of the US Open with a 6-2 1-6 6-3 6-3 win over Robert Kendrick.
The 19 year old Scot looked on course for easy win when dominating the first set.
A poor second followed and Murray was in trouble at a break down in the third, but he recovered and withstood a Kendrick fightback to seal the win.
Murray, seeded 17, will play Italy’s Alessio di Mauro in round two.
“I knew it was going to be difficult,” Murray said. “Robert hits the ball pretty hard. He’s got a big serve. He’s pretty flashy, can hit some big winners.”
“But if you can keep enough balls in court and deep he can get a bit impatient and start making mistakes.”
“Kendrick goes for shots that are not really on. He can he can do it for a set, two sets but to keep it up over five sets is really difficult.”
“When you play high risk tennis like that the law of averages says that he’s going to play two or three bad sets out of six. It’s difficult to maintain a standard like that.”
It was not a vintage performance from Murray but he was by far the classier player, as he proved in the first and fourth sets
The Scot’s patience from the baseline was in marked contrast to Kendrick, who went for everything with varying degrees of success.
Murray broke serve in the opening game and did so twice more during the first set before letting his concentration slip.
A double fault in game two of the second set prompted a mini collapse, allowing the American to level the match.
After Kendrick broke at the start of the third, the key moment came in game four when Murray converted his third chance to break back in a tense game.
A run of eight straight games from 3-3 put Murray in total control, although dropping serve twice when serving for the match from 5-0 in the fourth was a reminder that there is more work to be done.
And Murray insists that he will not be dismissing the threat of Di Mauro, who beat him in a Challenger event in Barletta, Italy.
“I lost against him a year and a half ago,” added Murray.
“He’s a really solid player. Obviously, I’m playing much better than I was at that stage, but he’s going to be difficult.”
Meanwhile Tim Henman extended his good run against long-time rival and fellow Briton Greg Rusedski with victory in their first-round match at the US Open.
Henman came through 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-3 in one hour 55 minutes for his seventh straight win over Rusedski, setting up a clash with top seed Roger Federer.
Rusedski went 3-0 up but Henman soon levelled before edging the tie-break.
Henman broke twice in the second set and then again at 4-4 in the third to wrap up a comfortable victory.
“Once I got a set up I felt my game got better and better,” said Henman, who admitted that Rusedski’s hip injury had been a factor.
“As he loses a little bit of strength in his hip, he wasn’t coming forward so much. I can exploit that a little bit more.”
“Yeah, I think as the match wore on, he was obviously getting a bit sore.”
Henman now faces the unenviable task of ending Federer’s quest for a third straight US Open title.
The pair also met at the same stage at Wimbledon with world number one Federer breezing through in straight sets, dropping just six games.
“It’s as tough a test as you can have,” said Henman. “But it depends which way you look at it - a tough draw or a great opportunity.”
Defeat for 1997 US Open runner-up Rusedski in what could be his last Grand Slam event means he has lost in the first round on each of his last four visits to Flushing Meadows.
Rusedski said afterwards that he would head back home to consider his future, with retirement surely looming.