Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Andy Murray kicked off his grass-court campaign with a 7-6(8) 6-3 win over Spaniard Ivan Navarro at the AEGON Championship at Queen's.


Defending champion Murray has been looking forward to returning to the grass court after a bad start to the year in recent tournaments, finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open.

Third seed Murray, who last year became the first Briton to win the title in 71 years, initially seemed taken aback at the sight of a serve-and-volleying Spaniard but once he had gotten over that shock he found his groove to book a place in the third round.

"Tricky play, not what you expect from a Spaniard coming forward on every point," Murray said in a courtside interview.

He has yet to win a title in 2010 and went out in the fourth round of the French Open. At times on Tuesday it seemed as if Murray had forgotten that he had left the claycourts behind as he repeatedly slapped his heels - as if trying to get the red dust from the sole of his shoes.

Murray would also have expected Navarro - whose stocky build would not have put him out of place on a rugby pitch - to hug the baseline since the world number 108 hails from Alicante.

But Navarro showed off his grasscourt skills as he attacked the net at every opportunity and with a little more experience he could have stolen the first set off Murray.

"I just managed to get him in the tiebreak but it was definitely tough," said Murray, who walked into his news conference holding a large ice pack wrapped around his right knee.

"It's nice to see someone serve and volley. I haven't played a serve-and-volleyer this year so it was tricky and he did it very well."

While Murray and Roddick were glad to finish their matches in one take, others had to endure a stop-start day as rain swept across west London.

We all hope Murray can retain his AEGON title which will line him up perfectly for a long awaited Wimbledon win!

Wimbledon Debenture Tickets - still a few available for this year's Wimbledon Tennis Tournament

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