After winning his first Grand Slam of his career on the hard courts of New York at the U.S. Open, Andy Murray picked up from where he had left off, cruising to a straight set victory over Robin Haase in the first round of the Australian Open.
The world number three, looking like a completely different tennis player, following his win at Flushing Meadows last year, won 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
"It was a good start, nice to win in straight sets," Murray said after the match said. "It was the hottest day we've had for a while so the court was playing much quicker."
The Brit is one of the favorites for the title in Melbourne this year, along with the usual suspects Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, although the absence of Rafael Nadal through injury, has opened up the men's draw a little more.
Meanwhile, in the night session on Monday, home hope Lleyton Hewitt crashed out of the tournament, much to the disappointment of the capacity crowd.
The Aussie veteran could not find a way past No.8 seed Janko Tipsarevic, who entered the second round with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-3 win.
"I could have easily been up two sets to love," a disappointed Hewitt told reporters. "I fought really hard through the first set. I had 6-5, Love 30. In the second set I had 3 Love, served for it at 5-4.
"Against quality players, you got to take those chances obviously. But, to his credit, he raised his level and played some great points. The start of the tiebreak, I didn't do a whole heap wrong. He served big when he needed to get out of trouble.
"Yeah, towards the end of the second set, it was more just trying to weather the storm and hang in there more than anything. Even the start of the third set, went down an early break, fought back. He played a couple of good points to break me late in the third."
Tipsarevic was relieved to come out with a victory against a tough opponent like Hewitt.
"I think Lleyton Hewitt is as tough as it gets for a first round Australian Open first Grand Slam of the year," the Serbian said.
"With all the respect to all the other guys who are potential threats, like (Nikolay) Davydenko or (Gael) Monfils or (Grigor) Dimitrov or whatever, I think this is as tough as it gets, knowing that he plays really good tennis here, knowing that he won Kooyong last week, beating (Milos) Raonic, (Tomas) Berdych, and (Juan Martin) Del Potro in the same tournament, even if that was an exhibition event.
"I cannot tell you how happy that I am, first of all, that I managed to win, and second of all, to win in straight sets."
