Andy Murray, ranked third in the world and the top seed at this week’s Citi Open, came to Washington a few days early to adjust to the heat and switch to hard courts for the first time since April.
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Murray will also compete in the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters before turning his full attention to the U.S. Open, which begins at Flushing Meadows in New York on August 31.
Like other seeded players, Murray received a first-round bye, and his initial match in Washington, where he hasn’t played since he was the 2006 runner-up, comes Wednesday against Benjamin Becker or Teymuraz Gabashvili.
He said: ‘It does take some time, especially by the lawn.
“This morning was the first time that I started to feel more comfortable on the courts, get used to them again”.
In the Citi Open’s first completed match, Louisa Chirico beat Heather Watson 6-3, 6-0. “France was a huge win for us, one I wasn’t probably expecting”. It’s been much, much better than previous year.
PETKOVIC ADVANCES: Sixth-seeded Andrea Petkovic beat fellow German Carina Witthoeft in a first round match of the $731,000 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Calif.
American teenager CiCi Bellis lost her match to qualifier Misaki Doi, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
It was scheduled for 11 a.m., long before spectators descended upon William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center for the first day of main draw play at this year’s Citi Open. Doi meets No. 2-seed Agnieszka Radwanska on Thursday.
Although Murray’s Wimbledon run ended in a semi-final defeat by Roger Federer, he has been pleased with a season in which he has won three titles and performed well at the Grand Slam events. The first stop for the tour will be the Washington Open and Murray will be looking to bring in with him the same form that he has been able to produce for the past 3 months. “The year as a whole, there has been some progress”.
“I’ve played well in all of the Slams”, Murray said.
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“I was asking one of the guides to show some of the secret passages but unfortunately it didn’t get the go ahead”, Murray said. I haven’t quite managed to do that yet this year, but I feel I’ve played well in all of the Slams. The Australian Open, I was very close there, I felt.
