Murray: Good start is crucial

 

Originally published on: 01/07/12 00:00

Andy Murray says it will be imperative to get off to a good start against his fourth round opponent, Marin Cilic, at Wimbledon on Monday.

The Scot, who defeated Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Saturday in a match that finished at 11:02pm, says that he hopes to be the fresher of the two after the 23-year-old Croat played the second longest match in Wimbledon history in a five-hour-31-minute victory over Sam Querrey that finished 17-15 in the fifth set.

“When the scoreboard was coming up and it was like 14-all, 15-all, you know, you’re sort of thinking that’s great for me, or for Marcos,” acknowledged Murray. “I mean guys can recover though. It was a five hour match. When I played Novak in Australia our match was pretty much five hours, and then he played six hours against Rafa. So you can recover. The day definitely, definitely helps, but hopefully I'll be the fresher.”

Murray holds a 5-1 record against Cilic in their six previous meetings, but contested a tough four-set battle with the world No.18 in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and fell to Cilic in three sets at the US Open in 2009.

“I played obviously the one in Australia,” remembered the Scot. “It was a tough match. He was coming into that one after a couple of long five setters, as well, and started the match really well.

“So it will be important for me to try to get off to a good start in the match against him. If you are feeling a little bit tired and you go behind, it can be tough to come back.”

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