Murray happy with Montreal opener

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:40

British No.1 Andy Murray enjoyed a relatively straightforward passage into the third round of the Rogers Cup on Tuesday and said afterwards he was pleased with his first outing of the north American summer hard court season.

The world No.3 came through 6-4, 6-2 against dangerous Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in around 90 minutes to book his place in the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

Despite the scoreline, Murray said he had to be on his guard, particularly on the 10 break points that Chardy engineered.

“There were a lot of difficult moments in there,” Murray said. “I saved about 10 break points and that’s always good.

“Sometimes when you come back after a break it’s the first thing you lose. You can lose your rhythm. But now I feel better. I feel pretty good.”

“When I was down on the break points, I came up with some big serves.

“I shanked a few returns. I’m hoping that will get better with a few matches. I retrieved well, tried to keep the ball low over the net and he made a few more errors than I did.

“It’s just match sharpness that I need to work on. Overall, I’m pleased with the state of my game right now.”

The Scot, who over the next three weeks will build up to another tilt at the US Open, his favourite Grand Slam, will next face either Gael Monfils or Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero on Thursday.

Depending on the results this week, Murray could find himself in second position in the ATP world rankings next Monday.

Should Rafael Nadal endure a less than successful week on his return to the game after a two-and-a-half-month lay off with tendonitis in both knees, Murray could leapfrog the man from Mallorca.

Nadal opens his singles campaign on Wednesday against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

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