WHEN a totally off-balance Andy Murray fashioned the most improbable lob winner to break Robin Haase in the first set yesterday the Dutchman must have known that his 2015 Wimbledon journey was going to end sooner rather than later.
The delectable lob that bounced off the Scot's racket gave him a 4-1 advantage and effectively broke Haase's spirit as the 2013 champion sprinkled his opponent's half of the court with 25 glorious winners to sprint to a 6-1 6-1 6-4 second-round win.
VAST
Yesterday's outing on a hot and humid Court One would have pleased his coach Amelie Mauresmo as it was a vast improvement on his underwhelming first-round win over Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin in which he was broken three times in the second set.
Two days on and Murray was at his imperious best as he dished out dreamy dropshots, flashy forehands and crowd-pleasing lobs to win the first set for the loss of only one point on serve.
"I was very happy with the way I played. I thought there were some things I could have done better in the first round but my opponent Kukushkin was playing unbelievably aggressive and made it very difficult for me to impose myself on the match," said Murray.
"Whereas today I did that much better, I was able to come forward and I felt I was dictating more of the baseline rallies and played a good match. In grand slams you have to try to conserve energy when you can because the two weeks can be quite draining physically and mentally.
"If you can get yourself off the court quickly... it can pay off towards the end of the tournament.
"So, yeah, I'm glad I got done quickly today."
ROGER FEDERER'S effortless stroll through the early stages continued as he brought out the party tricks in a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory over Sam Querrey to reach the third round.
Once the Swiss seven-times champion had tamed the American's hefty serve, he cruised through the match, even managing to lob his statuesque opponent with a shot through his legs in the second set.
Querrey began with a tenacious effort to peg Federer back, but the Swiss, chasing an 18th grand slam title, broke in the ninth game of the first set and never looked back.
He broke twice more in each of the second and third sets and finished it off in an hour and 21 minutes to set up a clash with Australia's Sam Groth.