Wimbledon 2016: Andy Murray breezes past fellow Brit Liam Broady to reach the next round
Britain's No1 bossed the match with the world No 235 from start to finish in exactly the kind of routine 6-2 6-3 6-4 victory
ANDY MURRAY took a small step towards Wimbledon glory as fellow Brit Liam Broady found playing his pal to be a giant leap.
Murray bossed the match with the world No 235 from start to finish in exactly the kind of routine victory 6-2 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes - which he would have wanted.
It was the first time the British No 1 had played a countryman at Wimbledon but he took the awkwardness of competing against a friend in his stride.
Murray said: "I thought I did some good stuff offensively. Maybe defensively I could have done a little better but first round matches are always a little tricky.
"At the start of the match we are both just trying to win. Liam played better as the match went on. He fought right through to the end and played some good stuff. It was a good experience for him.
"It was definitely different [with the crowd supporting both players]. The crowd is always very fair here. They got behind both players. Liam got good support and when he left the court he got a nice ovation too."
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Murray did not give Broady a single break point to look at in the first two sets and converted all three which he earned on his opponent’s serve.
Watched by older sister and British No 3 Naomi, Broady fought hard against what looked like the inevitable.
Having been broken in the opening game of the third set, he had two chances to level at 3-3.
But Murray snuffed out those faint hopes and will play Taipei’s Lu Yen-Hsun in the second round on Thursday - just as he did in 2013 when he won the title.