Saturday 30 August 2014 16:43, UK
Former champion Andy Murray is not under-estimating his next opponent Andrey Kuznetsov as he bids to regain his US Open crown.
After the cramp-induced drama of his first-round win over Robin Haase, the 2012 champion enjoyed a smooth passage through to round three with a straight sets win over German qualifier Matthias Bachinger on Thursday night.
The next test comes in the shape of Russian former Wimbledon junior champion Kuznetsov, who upset Fernando Verdasco in five sets on Thursday.
Murray, who has never faced the 23-year-old before in a match or in practice, said: "He's had a couple of big wins in the slams this year.
"He beat (David) Ferrer at Wimbledon and obviously here against Verdasco. I've never played him before. I don't know his game that well, but I've seen him play a little bit.
"He hits the ball pretty flat. Likes to go for his shots a lot. This court's fairly quick, so that will probably help him, as well. But I'll watch a little bit of video (on Friday) evening, try to understand his game a bit better."
Having played in the cool of the night session, Murray is likely to be back in the heat of the day against Kuznetsov.
He still does not know why cramp struck against Haase but will not worry unduly about the possibility of a repeat episode.
"You just take each day as it comes," he said.
"You never know what's going to happen from day to day. Monday was very, very hot, humid conditions.
"(Against Bachinger) it was pretty cool at the end, extremely windy, a different court. Each day in tennis things change. So you've just got to move on, trust the work that you've done and get ready for the next match."
Kuznetsov, ranked 96th, has taken his time to make his mark in the senior ranks after his Wimbledon title in 2009 but has now reached the third round at successive grand slams.
Beating Ferrer at Wimbledon was particularly impressive given the Spaniard's consistency at the slams, and the similarity between the two tournaments was not lost on the Russian.
Kuznetsov said: "It seems like destiny. Second time, very similar situation. First round I beat a local guy and then second round I play with a Spanish guy and beat him in five sets.
"Before the match my girlfriend told me it's probably going to be destiny and you should win in five sets. I did not think about this during the match but it happened like this."
The bad news for Kuznetsov is that he lost his third-round match at Wimbledon to Leonardo Mayer, and he knows he has his work cut out against Murray.
"There is no pressure and I will try to do my best," he said.
"I'll try to play aggressively. That's the way I try to play every game. I will try to show my best tennis, my aggressive tennis, and I hope it will help me to get chances and to use them."
