Andy Murray opened his road to the 2012 Brisbane Open with consecutive three-set matches. On Thursday, he put away Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets, giving up only four games.
Murray, the tournament's top seed and World No. 4 player, took 66 minutes to seal his third victory of the new year. He will play the winner of the match between Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin and Australia's Bernard Tomic.
The 24-year-old Scot is looking to break his Grand Slam drought in Sydney with the Australian Open later this month.
Kim Clijsters marked her eighth straight win in Brisbane with her victory today in the women's draw. Clijsters defeated Czech's Iveta Benesova, 6-3, 6-2. Benesova had taken down top-seeded Sam Stosur in straight sets in the previous round.
From the Brisbane International:
"I'm starting to feel more confident. The little bit of the up and down maybe I had in my previous matches, especially in the one against Ana, that wasn't there, which was good," Clijsters said.
"I felt like I was looking for the lines a little bit better and from the beginning of the rally I felt that I was, with the return, going for the lines and trying to be in charge of the rally from as soon as I could be."