Murray in cruise control

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:43

The world number three wrapped up victory in his first meeting with the Frenchman in one hour 34 minutes to set up a third-round match with Juan Carlos Ferrero or Gael Monfils.

Service breaks in the opening games of each set paved the way for the Scot, who could move up to second in the rankings, ahead of Raphael Nadal, if the Spaniard loses on Wednesday and Murray makes the last four.

“I was looking forward to it (getting back playing after a long lay-off),” he said on Sky Sports Xtra after the match.

“The one thing I wanted from this tournament was to play a lot of matches, three of four to get back into the swing of things.

“I just had to try and stay solid and force him into some errors,” said Murray.

On the prospect of becoming world number two, he added: “I want to try and improve my ranking as much as possible and when I’ve got the opportunity I would like to do it, but it’s kind of in the back of my mind. I’m not thinking about it too much.

“Rafa’s missed three months of the tour. If I do overtake him it’s not like I’ve been playing so much better than him.”

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