A lush and pristine Centre Court surface that turned to a dark green smear each time Andy Murray and Belgian opponent David Goffin screeched across the grass barely halted the defending champion's Wimbledon progress.
And as if to mark or even trump Murray's speed-bump free victory yesterday, top seed Novak Djokovic chipped in with a narrative that caused no concern for his prosperously jowlled coach Boris Becker, a doleful study of concentration up in the player's box.
The only despairing swipes of Dokovic’s racquet came when he failed to put Andrey Golubev out of the tournament faster than even 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 suggests.
The Kazak player clung to the match through desperation in the third set to put a respectable veneer on the finish in an otherwise heavily weighted contest. Looking to record his first match win at Wimbledon the 55th-ranked Golubev huffed and puffed before Djokovic’s immaculate timing and light feet brought an end to it in one hour and 28 minutes.
In Goffin, a head boyish, thin looking character ranked 104 in the world, who would have seemed more appropriately wrapped in a blanket and seated on some Swiss mountain taking in the restorative air, Murray saw victory as early as the first set.
If there is such a thing as anti-presence on a tennis court Goffin invisibly possessed it with his sheepish expression that yelled, “crikey, I’m on centre court!” when body language and thoughts should have been of a dagger through the Scottish heart.
Murray took advantage of his spooked opponent’s first steps into the intimidating stadium and while the Scottish player’s penchant in the past has occasionally been to construct barriers where none existed, he instantly began to bully and overwhelm the 23-year-old and kept it going for just over two hours.
“I was nervous,” said Murray. “I enjoyed the walk to the chair and when I sat down it was time to get on with it.”
For British sensibilities it was the perfect start and for a tournament that hopes to avoid star-fade in the first week an encouraging few results with Murray rising in a steady curve from beginning to end to face down an ever improving opponent.
Angry Belgian He took the first set in 28 minutes, a dismissive ace closing the first chapter 6-1.
In a tournament where cracks often show in the opening days and where no hopers only hope is to inject doubt, Murray closed each narrow opening as Goffin picked and prised.
The younger man fell around the court, sometimes angrily looking at the cursed pieces of turf that refused to hold him upright but most of his pained expressions drew from the scoreboard that was snapping in just one direction.
It was 6-4 in the second set and 7-5 in the third, Murray again punctuating the end by acing the Belgian and closing a controlled performance just as it seemed Goffin was finding the game to cause problems.
It was a pleasing workout and a relief but one that brought little change in the unsmiling Murray demeanour. Goffin was bidding to become the lowest ranked player to defeat Murray at a Grand Slam and in a year where the defending champion is struggling to win his first title since Wimbledon last year.
“I got an early break,” said Murray. “That helped settle me down. I hit the ball very well . . . There weren’t any moments where I felt I was mistiming balls. I thought the second and third sets were high level and I thought he played very well. He played a bad game at 40-love up at five all in the third set but that was it.”
The 27-year-old meets Blaz Rola in the next round. No, he doesn't know much about him either. Rola from Slovakia beat Spain's Pablo Andujar 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 to set up another nervous meeting for Murray, who is again the towering favourite to advance.
It’s scarcely believable but Rola is playing in just his second Grand Slam and started playing professionally only last season.
Next opponent for Murray He’s already pocketed
€53,840 for winning one match leaving six to go for the winner’s purse of €2.2 million.
“I’m playing right now a year [professionally] being an underdog almost all the time,” said Rola. “I think a lot of opponents don’t expect what’s coming. That’s . . . my advantage.”
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, winner at Queens this year with a final victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez, was also merciless over straight sets. His 7-6(7-1), 6-3, 6-2 win over American qualifier Ryan Harrison was seamless with the 22-year-old on a quarter-final trajectory that could have him across the net from Murray.
But it was Murray and Djokovic that set the early benchmarks with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal aspiring to cut similarly early paths today.
“With no matches under your belt coming into Wimbledon you have to be extra careful,” said Djokovic. “I had two weeks since the final of the French, so I had plenty of time to recover and be ready.”
He looked it.
