‘Top class’ Murray crushes Melzer
Jürgen Melzer has praised Andy Murray’s “extraordinary performance” after being beaten by the Scotsman at the Australian Open last night (Sun).The 29-year-old Lower Austrian stood no chance against Murray who won the third round clash in an hour and 44 minutes (6-3, 6-1, 6-1).”I cant play any faster than that. Andy delivered an extraordinary performance. His game is very clever too,” a disappointed Melzer who reached the semi final at last years French Open said today. British newspapers lauded Murray for showing a “performance of pure class”.Melzer, who made 27 unforced errors in the match against Murray, beat Spains Pere Riba in the tournaments first round before Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis had to give up due to an injury in his second round match against Austrias number one in world tennis.Murray now faces Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov who sensationally defeated Swedish star Robin Söderling in a five-set thriller (1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6:2).”The matches are going to get tougher. I’m ready for that mentally. I’m not expecting to go through the tournament winning matches like that,” Murray, 23, said about his match against Austrias Sportsman of 2010 and upcoming challenges.Murray still waits for his first Grand Slam victory. If he wins the Australian Open in Melbourne, he would be the first Briton since Fred Perry won Wimbledon and the US Open in 1936.Melzer has the chance to win his second doubles Grand Slam after he won the 2010 Wimbledon doubles event with his German partner Philipp Petzschner. The Austrian-German duo face top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan in the Australian Opens quarter final.Oliver Marach, Austrias other top doubles player, and his Polish partner Lukasz Kubot, are set to clash with American Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands Antilles.