Flawless Murray notches another impressive win

Scotland's Andy Murray notched another impressive win at the Australian Open on Wednesday, advancing to the third round with his second straight sets victory in as many matches.

The man charged with ending Britain's 74-year Grand Slam drought in men's tennis disposed of 57th-ranked Frenchman Marc Gicquel in ruthless fashion in one hour and 50 minutes, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

It followed the fifth seed's easy win over South African qualifier Kevin Anderson on Monday, in which he dropped just four games.

Including his mixed teams Hopman Cup preparation for the Australian Open, the 22-year-old has only dropped two sets in six singles matches in 2010.

All the facets of his game were on display against Gicquel, with his great groundstrokes, deft touch and superb athleticism too much for the determined Frenchman.

Murray was particularly happy with his first set form in tricky conditions due to a swirling breeze on the outside court, and pleased that he was able to resist Gicquel's comeback.

"First set was good and then it was tough after that," he said.

"I came through a couple of tough moments early in the second set, I was down 0-40 on my serve and managed to hold there.

"He started to play better at that stage and I came through that well."

Murray, who had also won his only previous encounter with Gicquel, hit 38 winners and sent down 10 aces.

Encouragingly, his first serve percentage was also vastly improved on his clash with Anderson.

"I played two matches and got broken twice, you know, once in each match, so I'm reasonably happy with that," he said.

"I served better today than I did the first day.

"I'm sure I'll serve better in the next round than I did today."

Gicquel showed plenty of fight in the third set, recovering from being a break down early, and he was unlucky to be on the wrong end of a bad line call when the Scot made a critical second break in a tight seventh game.

Gicquel bravely staved off two match points, but at his third attempt pushed a backhand long.

Murray is seemingly headed towards a fourth-round clash with French 12th seed Gael Monfils, and then a quarter-final against world number two and defending Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal.

His next opponent is another Frenchman, 64th-ranked Florent Serra, who edged past Jarkko Nieminen in a marathon second round clash.

Although Murray has never played Serra, he knows what to expect.

"He's been around the 50 mark for quite a long time," he said.

"He's a solid player. He's had two very long matches so far and saved a couple of match points today.

"So you know he's going to go for it and I have to make sure I'm on my game."