Andy Murray advances in straight sets after 2nd-round struggles

— -- NEW YORK -- Andy Murray made things much easier on himself this time.

Two days after rallying from two sets down to win in five, Murray swept Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 Saturday night in the third round of the US Open.

Murray, the No. 3 seed, was broken in his second service game by the 30th-seeded Brazilian but had little trouble after that.

Murray needed 2 hours, 11 minutes to defeat Bellucci. One round earlier, playing in hot, muggy conditions, Murray was taken to the brink by Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, dropping the first two sets before rallying to win 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 in 3 hours, 17 minutes.

"Conditions were so much nicer to play in today," Murray said. "Like after long rallies and stuff, you weren't really struggling for breath as much. I also think, conditioning-wise, the first couple rounds, it really doesn't get much harder than that. Maybe it will get bad again, but they're some of the toughest conditions you'll play in during the year. To get through those matches, especially the second one, was important. Yeah, much easier tonight."

Next up for Murray is 15th-seeded Kevin Anderson, known as one of the biggest servers in the men's game.

"They're always tricky matches," Murray said, referring to facing big servers. "But getting a lot of returns in play is something that throughout most of my career I've been good at. Often the big servers, they come into matches used to getting a lot of free points. It changes their mindset a little bit in the way they play the match and play the points."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.