Defending champion Murray beats another Mayer

Andy Murray. AP FILE PHOTO

NEW YORK – Defending champion Andy Murray beat another man called Mayer at the US Open to reach the last 16 on Sunday.

The third-seeded Briton, who ended his country’s 76-wait for a Grand Slam men’s champion when he won his maiden major title in New York last year, eased past Germany’s world number 49 Florian Mayer, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2.

His win was built on an impressive 42 winners and seven aces and followed his second-round victory over Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

“I think I need to start my matches quicker than I have been doing. I am not that fast out of the blocks,” said the 26-year-old.

“But once I got going I was striking the ball cleanly.”

Murray, the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champion, will face either Italian 20th seed Andreas Seppi or Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Scot leads Seppi 5-1 in their career match-ups, with the Italian’s only win coming in their first meeting on grass in Nottingham in 2006.

Murray defeated Istomin, the world number 65, in their only other match in the quarter-finals in Brisbane in January this year.