Murray marches past Simon

Andy Murray booked his place in the third round of the Hamburg Masters with a comprehensive straight sets victory over Gilles Simon.

The British number one always had the measure of his French opponent and closed out a 6-3 6-3 victory in a little over an hour.

Murray set the tone for the match by breaking his opponent's first service game and ultimately had too much variety and power for Simon.

The victory sets up a third round showdown with Rafael Nadal on Thursday - the Scot's 21st birthday.

After lacklustre early exits in both Barcelona and Monte Carlo, Murray headed to Germany this week looking to silence those critics who claimed he was some way off challenging the best in the world on clay.

However, he produced an encouraging display with strong ground-strokes off both wings and plenty of big serves.

With the first game of the match going to deuce, Murray ensured it was he who gained the early momentum as he broke Simon to take charge.

He maintained that advantage with relative ease on his own delivery with Simon forced to work hard on his just to stay in the set.

Having moved 5-3 ahead, Murray closed out the first set with a deep backhand to the baseline that Simon was unable to return.

With the first four games of the second going on serve, the Scot survived the first real pressure on his own delivery in the fifth game but came though in positive style after his opponent had taken him to deuce.

Decisive break

He then made his decisive move in the eighth game when Simon came up with three errors to fall 0-40 behind, Murray clinching the break with a well-judged drop-shot to edge 5-3 ahead.

He looked to have wobbled as he served for the match, quickly falling 0-40 down on his service. However, he fought off all three, Simon putting a forehand long on his third and final opportunity.

It was to prove his last real chance as Murray won the next two points and match, Simon putting a backhand into the net to confirm the Scot's victory.

"He's (Simon) a very tough clay court player, he's won a couple of tournaments on clay so I was really happy to finish it off in two sets and win so comfortably," Murray stated afterwards.

"I'm getting a bit more confidence playing on clay, I've had a couple of good wins this week and hopefully I can keep it going in my next match."

Nadal up next

With that next match against Nadal, Murray is all too aware he will have to be at his very best, but feels he can give the Spaniard a real test should he reproduce the form he showed against Simon.

"It will be a good experience for me," he added. "He's been playing unbelieveable on clay.

"But if I play like I did today I can make a match of it. I'm not expected to win, but I do feel like I can give him a decent run for his money.

"I did everything well today and got the balance between playing aggressively and defensively right."