Andy Murray claimed his 499th career win after dismantling Colombian Santiago Giraldo’s hard-hitting game. The Scot reached round four at the Miami Open.
Murray, seeded third, won 6-3 6-4 and is scheduled to play 15th seed Kevin Anderson from South Africa in the last 16.
Quite amusing and interesting fact is that if the Briton successes in another victory, he would become the 46th man in the open era who has completed 500 match wins.
The Scot, 27, lost heavily to Giraldo in Madrid last year but managed to make amends in Miami, where he lives and trains for the greatest part of the year.
Murray pushed his opponent’s second serve from the outset, breaking in game six on his way to the first set and then powering 4-0 clear in the second. There was a late revival from the now free-swinging Giraldo, who saved two match points and broke serve at 5-2 and saw off another two at 5-4. Although it delayed Murray, it did not stop him, and the world number 4 finally secured victory at the 5th attempt with a little help from the net cord.
Looking forward to a potential landmark win on Tuesday, Murray told reporters: “Getting to 500 wins is a lot.
There’s not loads of players that have done it.
“Hopefully it happens in a couple of days, if not then hopefully later on in the year I’ll win another match and have the opportunity to win many more.
“It’s a nice milestone to reach when I get there.”
It took only 42 minutes for Serena Williams to defeat 15-year-old wildcard Cici Bellis, the junior world number one with 6-1, 6-1 in the third round at the Miami Open.
Ranked 211th by the WTA, Bellis is still an amateur in spite of the fact that managed to beat Dominika Cibulkova at the US Open the previous year, and she saw off 29th seed Zarina Diyas in her first match in Miami.
When the ball whizzed past the world number one for an ace late in Sunday’s match, the subdued crowd suddenly erupted with a roar.
What is more, Williams said she was tempted to join the applause. It goes without saying that everyone wanted to see her underage, underdog opponent do better.
“It was a good match, she plays really well and I’m just out here trying to take the title,” said Williams.
”It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy to win this match,”’ said Williams, 33. ”It was tough. She’s young and her being an American, you want to see people like her do well.”
Williams will face during the Monday’s round of 16 against 2006 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded No. 24. She eliminated No. 13 Angelique Kerber 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Santiago Giraldo vs Andy Murray, 29/03/2015, 15:15 GMT, Match Center
Serena Williams vs Bellis C., 29/03/2015, 19:40 GMT, Match Center
Miami Open: Murray beats Santiago Giraldo, Williams trashes 15-year-old
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