By Alastair Himmer
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Andy Murray overpowered Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 6-1 6-3 6-3 on Thursday to march into the third round of the Australian Open, triggering wild crowd scenes under the floodlights.
Margaret Court Arena erupted in soccer-style celebrations after the Briton, runner-up last year in Melbourne, wrapped up a one-sided victory in a shade under two hours.
"The atmosphere on that court is one of the best in tennis," fifth seed Murray told reporters after being serenaded off court by 6,000 raucous fans.
"For a slam it's one of the most fun to play. It was absolutely packed. Everyone gets into it. There were a lot of Brits supporting me. It felt like a Davis Cup match.
"It gives you a bit of extra energy. I wouldn't mind playing all my matches there."
Feverishly pumping his fists in the direction of his coach after pinching the odd game, the muscle-bound Marchenko had very little substance to back up his extravagance.
Murray calmly put an end to his opponent's posturing and racket-throwing tantrums, the eighth of his 16 aces closing out the first set.
He captured the second with a scorching return on to the Ukrainian's shoelaces and smacked an unplayable serve down the middle on match point to set up a meeting with Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
"He was swinging quite big, he was really going big on returns," said Murray. "But I served well when I needed to and that was the difference."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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