Murray makes impressive start
Murray makes impressive start
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Tuesday, 27, Jun 2006 11:03
Young Scot Andy Murray claimed his "best match on grass this year" had seen off his seeded opponent Nicolas Massu.
Murray sent the Chilean crashing out of British tennis' gala event in under two hours, 6-1 6-4 6-4, to send the Centre Court crowd into raptures.
After signalling his intent from the start, Murray raced into a 5-0 lead as his clay-court specialist opponent struggled to adapt to the peculiarities of the grass courts at SW19.
Some aggressive and forceful play from the baseline and at the net from the Briton left Massu all at sea early in the second set as well as the Dunblane teenager showed experience beyond his years in breaking his senior opponent’s serve at 2-1 and never let up.
At the scene of his five-set thriller against David Nalbandian, which Murray eventually lost, there were no signs of the same capitulation that saw him struggle towards the end of that defeat as Murray looked fresh and in control at all times.
With the support of his home crowd, Murray also dominated the third set. Despite the brief respite of a break of serve at 5-3 in the third for the clearly rattled 31st seed, it only delayed the inevitable.
"I couldn't have started better," the Scot told the waiting press after the game. "I returned really well. I hardly missed a return when I got my racquet on it and I had so many chances to break him in the second set, I'm a little disappointed I had to close out at 5-4."
"The whole match was pretty solid - I was really consistent," Murray added.
"I thought it was a really good match, I didn't do anything wrong. That's definitely the best match I've played on grass this year."
Murray faces a second round tie against either Bjorn Phau of Germany or France's Julien Benneteau, who continue on Wednesday at one set each.