Andy Murray was pleased to come through a difficult period against Marcel Granollers as he recorded his second successive straight-sets win to reach the third round of the US Open.
“There was a 20- to 25-minute period in the match where it was tough and tricky,” he said of his 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 win in two hours and 22 minutes over the Spaniard under the roof on Arthur Ashe on day four. That followed his opening win in similarly convincing fashion against the altogether different skills of Lukas Rosol on Monday.
He added: “I got myself in a situation that maybe I could have avoided if I had taken one or two of the set points that I had at 5-2 or 5-3. But I thought I did pretty well. There were some good points in there. That period of the match was very tough. I didn’t play that well during that period and managed to come through it, thankfully, and play some good stuff in the second and third sets.
“I served at like 40, 42% first serves or something and still won in straight sets. I must have been doing things well other than serving. I was obviously hitting the ball pretty well and returning pretty good. But I could serve better, for sure. I only got broken once in a game where I had game points. It was all right.”
Murray said playing under the new roof provided some new challenges – not the least of them having to pick up the sound of the ball against the background of an echo in the cavernous stadium.
“I don’t think it was too different to the other night when I played but, when the rain came, it was certainly loud. You can’t hear anything, really. You could hear the line calls, but not so much the opponent’s [shots] when he was hitting the ball or even when you’re hitting the ball, really, which is tough purely because we’re not used to it. That’s what makes it challenging.
“We use our ears when we play. It’s not just the eyes. It helps us pick up the speed of the ball, the spin that’s on the ball, how hard someone’s hitting it. If we played with our ears covered or with headphones on, it would be a big advantage if your opponent wasn’t wearing them. It’s tricky. You know, you can still do it but it’s harder, for sure.
“It’s definitely louder [than Wimbledon] but I don’t think it changed the conditions on the court as much as it does at Wimbledon.
“When the roof is on, the humidity picks up significantly [at Wimbledon], whereas here it’s always humid, even when the roof is open.”
