Murray holds off battling Lu

British number one Andy Murray advanced to round four of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with a hard-fought 6-3 6-2 victory over Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei.

Lu, who beat Murray at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, raced out of the blocks with a series of big shots, creating a number of break-point opportunities, but Murray resisted, saving all five break points he faced and breaking twice in each set to seal victory - and set up a meeting with Argentina's Carlos Berlocq - in an hour and 28 minutes.

"It was a very good second set," Murray told Sky Sports 3. "In the first set he had a lot of chances on my serve. I thought my footwork in the first set wasn't great. Once I started to loosen up and relax a little bit, my footwork improved."

Lu started well, creating three break-point chances early on, but Murray held on and struck a killer blow in game five as he broke at the first opportunity.

At 0-30 in the next Lu service game, Murray looked set to make it a double break, but Lu won four points in a row, sealing the hold with a running forehand down the line.

That lifted Lu, who created two break points in the next game, but Murray found the line with a couple of difficult forehands, sealed the game with a pair of aces and took the set when Lu double faulted on break point.

The second set was keenly contested until game six when Murray raced into a 0-40 lead and Lu meekly surrendered the break by dumping a forehand halfway up the net. That put Murray 4-2 up and another break in Lu's next service game was enough to seal a hard-fought if ultimately comfortable win.

Murray was impressed with Lu, saying: "He's caused a few upsets over the last couple of years. He takes the ball extremely early, hits the ball very flat and really goes for it.

"If he's striking the ball cleanly like he was at the start he can hit a lot of winners. He made it tough."

Murray is playing in Indian Wells without coach Ivan Lendl at courtside, and The Scot added: "He said he didn't enjoy the conditions when he played here. He said, 'I never played well here'. I think he played here three times and made the final twice. I hope one day my standards can be that high."