Reuters
New York, Sept 2: Andy Murray said here Thursday that the noise created by the US Open’s new retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium is a distraction to players and makes it difficult to react to opponents’ shots.
But the British second seed managed to shut out the noise and Spain’s Marcel Granollers during a 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 dominating second round victory played while rain beat down on the closed roof and crowd noise reverberated inside.
“It’s because we use our ears when we play,” Murray said, explaining the difficulty. “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.”
At times, the players could barely hear the ball off their strings and the rain hammering on the roof was almost deafening but Murray kept calm to clinch a convincing victory.
Murray led 5-2 in the first set only for Granollers to hit back but the Scot won a game lasting more than 10 minutes to break and clinch it on his seventh set point.
After breaking for 3-1 in the second set, Murray pulled away to double his lead and he broke in the ninth game of the third to earn victory.
Also advancing to the third round were Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka and old warhorse Juan Martin del Potro.
The sixth-seeded Japanese, the runner-up in New York in 2014, dropped his second set but came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 against 20-year-old Russian qualifier Karen Khachanov.
Del Potro used his rapier-like forehand to beat Steve Johnson of the US 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-2 while ‘Stan the Man’ trounced Alessandro Giannessi 6-1, 7-5, 7-5.
