Murray has not reached the last eight in New York since he made the 2008 final
Andy Murray enjoyed a
straightforward passage through to the last 16 of the US Open as he
swept past Spanish 25th seed Feliciano Lopez.
The Briton had won all five previous meetings with Lopez and proved too good once again, winning 6-1 6-4 6-2.Murray, 24, dominated throughout in his first night-session match of this year's tournament in New York.
He will play Donald Young in the fourth round on Tuesday, looking to avenge a loss to the American earlier this year.
And despite Young being a wildcard ranked 84th in the world, he is likely to provide a stiffer test for Murray than world number 26, Lopez, managed on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray had been taken to the brink by Robin Haase over five
dramatic sets in the second round, but Sunday's match could not have
provided a starker contrast.
Dressed from head to toe in black for the night match, Murray picked up where he had left off when beating Lopez in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in June.He grabbed control of the contest by winning the first 14 points, and with that a break, and the Scot made it through the entire first set without dropping a point on serve.
As solidly as Murray was playing, Lopez was clearly at a loss as to how he should handle a player he had struggled against so often in the past.
The Briton was content to roll his first serves in at an average of 107mph, trusting that Lopez did not have the return to do any damage, and when he did earn his only two break points of the match during the second set, the Spaniard made unforced errors both times.
Murray had to wait until 4-4 in the second set to make the decisive break but it came when Lopez offered up a double-fault, and the game was up when he was broken to love at the start of the third.
It was exhibition stuff from Murray in the closing stages, a volleyed forehand pass and a backhand smash among the highlights, and he sealed the victory in under two hours.
Reflecting on his three matches so far, Murray said: "I played some good tennis towards the end of the first match, the second match was poor - I didn't think it was great but I found a way to get through - and tonight was good.
"But so much can change in a couple of days and you just need to make sure you stay focused on the next match."
Murray was the victim of a major upset when Young beat him in Indian Wells earlier this year but the Scot feels in considerably better shape than he did then.
"It's a big match for me because of what happened earlier in the year but energy-wise, I'll be feeing good going into that one for hopefully a long second week."
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