Andy Murray overcame his first Wimbledon obstacle with little difficulty in a straight sets victory over Benjamin Becker.
The 6-4 6-3 6-2 win was by no means a vintage performance by Murray but nor did it need to be for the No.2 against a player ranked 95th in the world.
His German opponent occasionally challenged, most notably in bouncing back from a 4-1 first-set deficit to level the scores at 4-4 as Murray appeared to suffer a momentary lapse in concentration.
But the US Open champion always gave the impression he had more in reserve and so it proved at key moments in each of the three sets.
Leading 5-4 in the first, he got the chance to break and took it at the second time of asking.
At points throughout, though, he seemed to struggle with both the range of his shots and his fluency, reacting in frustration on occasions as his medley of strokes went awry.
But in truth, he did all that was required, raising the pressure on Becker when it mattered. Leading 4-3 in the second set, he went up a break courtesy of a rare approach to the net following a drop shot from the German.
And then he broke immediately at the start of the third set, after which he was clinical to a relatively straightforward finale.
The bigger news for Murray than the result itself was a notable gap opening up in his section of the draw with potential semi-final opponent Rafael Nadal suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Belgium's Steve Darcis.
