Scot Andy Murray overcame a second set stumble to hold on and beat Michael Llodra 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9/7) in the second round of the 20.6 million-dollar US Open yesterday.

This was the second career meeting between the two as Murray needed a tiebreaker in the fourth set of the two hour, 33-minute match to win his second straight victory over Llodra.

The 21-year-old Murray, of Dunblane, clinched the victory on his second match point after Llodra committed a pair of back-to-back errors with the tiebreaker on the line.

Serving for the set late in the tiebreaker, Llodra hit a short drop shot into the net, setting up match point for Murray. He put another shot into the net on the previous point at the National Tennis Center's Grandstand Stadium.

The 28-year-old Llodra, of Suresnes, finished with four double faults and had more than three times the number of unforced errors as Murray (46-13).

The sixth-seeded Murray moves through to the third round where he will play Jurgen Melzner of Austria, who beat Czech Jiri Vanek 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 on Thursday.

Murray fired 12 aces and converted four of six break point opportunities as he tries to improve on his previous US Open best performance -- a fourth round finish in 2006.

Both Murray and Llodra came into the US Open with multi hardcourts wins to their credit this year and rankings that reflected career seasons.

Murray, who is ranked sixth in the world, won earlier this year in Dubai, Marseille and Cincinnati. He also made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Two of the 38th ranked Llodra's three career titles came in 2008 in Adelaide and Rotterdam.

Murray reached the third round of the US Open last season, but had just recently returned from a wrist injury.

AFP

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