Andy Murray calls on friends and family as Rafa Nadal rematch looms

After one week and two wins, Andy Murray is looking as good in this US Open as he did at the same stage at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals but could not get past Rafa Nadal. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that Nadal is looking as impressive as he did at Wimbledon – and has every prospect of another semi-final against Murray. Both won their second-round matches on Friday, Murray without fuss in an hour and 25 minutes against the Jamaican power-hitter Dustin Brown, Nadal in a tighter match whose centrepiece comprised two sets of longer than an hour each, including a tie-break in the second set that might have gone Denis Istomin's way had the Uzbek not lost his nerve trying to hold a 5-1 lead. Before he even thinks about Nadal, Murray must get past Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Juan Ignacio Chela comfortably in three sets; Nadal plays Gilles Simon, whose five-setter against Philipp Kohlschreiber had more twists and turns than an episode of Poirot . Murray knows better than to read too much into two easy wins, or to look past Wawrinka, whom he beat in three short sets en route to the 2008 final here, but whom he remembers just as well for their five-set fight under lights at Wimbledon the following summer. "I feel physically good," he says. "It's nice to get a couple of quick matches after having the late start [his first match was on Wednesday]. But it is difficult to judge how well I am playing based on [the Brown] match because there were so few rallies. The first round was a good one. Today I served well, so it is a good start, but the matches get tougher from now." Unfulfilled after his 7-5, 6-3, 6-0 win over Brown, Murray took to the practice court with the former Venezuelan Davis Cup player Dani Vallverdu, who has been a regular member of his travelling team on the American hardcourt loop. "He is my best friend," Murray says. "He's known me since I was 15. We used to play doubles together. He knows my game well and knows me well as a person. He watches all my matches on the TV. It's nice to have friends and family around. I would not say he is coaching me, he is just here to help out. I have hit with him every single day since I have been here. "He is a very good player, knows his tennis. He was the No1 player at the University of Miami and No3 in college tennis, and he was a good junior player, too." Vallverdu, Murray's Spanish part-time coach, Alex Corretja, and his mother, Judy, watched the end of the Wawrinka-Chela match and came back with a report on the Swiss, seeded 25th here but always dangerous. "He does everything well," Murray says. "He serves well, he's got a solid return. He's won the Olympics with Roger [Federer], so he can volley well." Next to Murray and Vallverdu while they were hitting up on Flushing Meadows' Court Four were two players who just cannot let go, who still enjoy the thwack and ping of tennis for its own sake: John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Murray got a kick out of it, too. "It is good for tennis and for the players to see them around," he says. "It is great that they still enjoy the game. "The thing is that all of the guys who play tennis right at the top love the game, but, because of the way tennis is now, they tend to take a few years away from it when they finish playing." Could he envisage himself doing the same so long after retiring from competitive tennis? "No, I can't really see it, to be honest. I am sure I will still be around tennis – the game has obviously given a lot to me and my family – but I don't think I will be thrashing the ball like that pair." For Murray, tennis is a serious business. It's about to get a bit more serious against Wawrinka and then he has the winner of Sam Querrey and Nicolás Almagro to look forward to in the fourth round. Querrey is one of three Americans left in the tournament, alongside his friend John Isner and Mardy Fish, but none is expected to figure in the final; Almagro is one of nine Spaniards still in contention. At least one of them has every ambition of doing so.