ANDY Murray conjured up a commanding display of grass court tennis to his place in the third round at Wimbledon. Exiled to Court No 1, a venue where he has never lost, the World No 3 hardly put a foot wrong as he overwhelmed Robin Haase by a 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 to maintain his record of never having failed to reach at least the third round here in a decade of trying.

The Dutchman had been responsible for one of the least comfortable moments in Murray’s career, having to endure severe cramps during a first round US Open match last year, but there was never any possibility of him cramping the Scot’s style. While that one could be put down to an unspecified error in his preparation, he left nothing to chance here and the 28-year-old from the Netherlands quite simply couldn’t live with it.

The World No 3 raced to the first set, his aggressive returning setting the tone, as he broke the supposedly fearsome Haase serve three times to take it 6-1 in only 20 minutes. The second set found the Dutchman, a runner up in the boys title here ten years ago, vainly attempting to alter the course of this match, but the end result was the same.

Playing in humid conditions amid the occasional spots of rain, by the third set it was now or never for Haase, who did at least do enough to prevent the Scot recording his quickest or biggest-ever SW19 victory. But an apologetic drop shot attempt which ended up halfway into the net was the beginning of the end for him. Murray broke for 4-3 and kept his foot on the throttle to secure this comfortable victory.

“I was very happy with the way I played,” said the Scot, who was watched by the Duchess of Cornwall “I felt there were some things I could have done better in the first round but today I did that much better, I was able to come forward and dictate a lot of the rallies.

“I started the match off very well, I started very quickly and Robin was a bit slow to get started. He started playing better about halfway through the second set. That was the kind of match I was expecting, when there was longer rallies. But it was a very good match from start to finish for me.”