Murray roars back

In reeling off a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Radek Stepanek, the 20-year-old Scot came up with his best tennis since injuring his wrist at the German Open in May.

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Rafael Nadal, a prospective third-round opponent if Murray gets past Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela on Tuesday night, may come to regret Sunday's clear-the-air chat with the British No 1 if this is the outcome of him playing with a clear mind.

Murray's attempts at giving an honest answer about the pressing issue of potential match-fixing in the sport earned him a rebuke from Nadal, who felt he had gone 'overboard'. Fortunately, the two of them are now back in harmony.

Murray said: 'As soon as I got here I talked to a couple of players. They know how things work sometimes. Everybody understands what I meant. It has been kind of cleared up.'

He will meet the ATP Tour's chief executive Etienne de Villiers this week, although he conceded he will not be able to be any more specific regarding the sport's hot topic. 'I don't really have anything more to tell them,' he said.

Regardless of whether he is clinging to that old 'taken out of context' refuge or not, the issue was clearly far enough behind him yesterday to concentrate on overcoming arguably the toughest unseeded opponent he could have had.

Stepanek is both feisty and fluent, and happy playing indoors at venues such as 'The Crystal Pavilion' here, although the weather outside put this summer's Wimbledon to shame.

At the U.S. Open, Stepanek should have beaten Novak Djokovic in one of the season's finest matches but he had no answer to Murray's mercurial talents.

The Scot said: 'No question, that is the best I have played since the injury. In fact, when you look at the chances I had and the fact that he never got to deuce on my serve, it's probably one of my best matches since I turned pro. If I keep that level of consistency, I have a good chance of beating the tournament's best players.'

At last week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Murray lost to Janko Tipsarevic and castigated himself for letting his opponent off the hook when on the verge of levelling the match at one set apiece.

Yesterday, at this premier non-Grand Slam event which offers more than £1million in prize-money and a stack of ranking points, he did quite the opposite.

Stepanek had struggled to keep it to 4-4 when Murray, whose forehand had hitherto proved strangely unreliable, abruptly shifted into a gear that very few players possess.

The lunging cross-court forehand that created two set points at 5-4 defied physics and was part of a stretch of seven games that rendered the world No 30 completely helpless.

Stepanek's serve was picked off at will and in the second set Murray even managed to land more than six out of 10 of his own first serves, an unusually high ratio for him.

World No 16 Chela has had a good year and is currently one place higher than Murray in the rankings. But the Scot will be happy to meet him on an indoor court rather than clay, especially at altitude where the balls fly a little bit more.

Murray comfortably beat him in the Australian Open third round this year and their paths may cross again in next February's Davis Cup tie between the two nations.