Andy Murray sees off wasteful Denis Istomin in Miami

Omnisports

March 26, 2016 6:46 AM

Two-time Miami Open champion Andy Murray survived a scare as he overcame Denis Istomin in straight sets to reach the third round on Saturday.

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There were three big seeded casualties in Miami, with Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and John Isner all crashing out at the second-round stage.

But second seed Murray was not one of them, despite presenting Istomin with five break-point opportunities, triumphing 6-3 7-5 to set up a showdown against Grigor Dimitrov.

Boasting a 9-2 win-loss record prior to taking to the court against Istomin having lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final, last year's runner-up Murray hit the ground running as he broke in the opening game via a double fault.

Murray never looked back from that point and he continued where he left off in the second set with a love service game.

However, Istomin refused to surrender and the Uzbek grew in stature as the match progressed.

Having failed to execute an earlier break point and watching Murray - who expressed his anger after returning a women's ball to the umpire - produce some clutch serves, Istomin finally converted for a 3-2 lead.

Istomin's joy was short-lived, though, as Murray immediately broke back to love after the former fired a forehand into the net.

The 29-year-old earned another break point at 30-40 in the 10th game but he sent another forehand into the net with a 6-5 lead at his mercy - tallying 31 unforced errors to Murray's 24.

Murray never looked back as he closed out the match in an hour, 38 minutes.

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