Dubai: World Number Three Andy Murray eased his way past Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in their first round encounter at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open here on Tuesday.
Seeded No. 3 here, Murray showed flashes of brilliance in his hour and 45 minutes’ stay on centre court before an appreciative afternoon crowd. The Briton broke early for a 3-2 lead in the first before going through some intense rallies to finally take the set 6-4 in an hour and two minutes.
The second set was more competitive with Murray once again nosing ahead only to see Muller dig in deep and break back to draw level 5-5. Murray managed to keep things simple in the end to break back immediately and then serve out the set and match 7-5.
Murray will now meet Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round on Wednesday and the likelihood of a meeting with wild card Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals a day later.
Having registered his 490th career win in singles, Murray was pleased with the sound workout on centre court. “In the end, I think the end of both sets I didn’t serve so well. But apart from that, I didn’t give him any opportunities really. I feel like I got a little bit unlucky at the end of the second set. He got a couple of net cords in that last game, the 5-4 game where I got broken and yeah, did very well to respond straightaway and get the break right back. I thought I played a fairly high quality match,” Murray said.
The former Wimbledon and US Open champion was also pleased that he did not allow the left-handed Muller to dominate despite coming up with some great shots. “I made him work very hard on his service games. That was something I wanted to try to do from early on in the match. I think in the second service game, although I lost the game, it felt like it was eight or nine deuce points in that game — I don’t know how many there was,” he added.
Murray is aware of what he needs to expect from his second round opponent. “I played Sousa a few times. You know, he’s a tough opponent. He fights hard. In Australia, even though I was playing very well the first couple of sets, he still hung in. I was up two sets and a break but he kept fighting and got himself back into the match there. I would say that’s one of his biggest strengths,” Murray observed.
“I will need to play a solid match and be on it throughout because if you let your level drop against him, he takes advantage of it,” he added.
