Murray puts aside Munich success to concentrate on Madrid
DPA ©
Andy Murray of Britain celebrates after winning the final match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany
the Madrid Masters on Tuesday as the Scot came back down to earth a
day after winning his first career clay court title in Munich.
Murray, seeded second at the Caja Magica, is awaiting an opponent for
his second-round start on Wednesday - and the Scot needs every hour
he can squeeze in to try and make the huge adjustment from Munich's,
wet and rainy conditions to the dry altitude of the Spanish capital.
The ATP number three arrived after winning in Munich in a delayed
Monday final, but was facing a race against time to adjust to the
totally different courts of Madrid.
"It's nice to win events at any level. I hope I can have a good run
at one of the next two events, either here or Rome, and get myself
ready for the French," Murray said of his three-hour Munich win in
Monday's rain-delayed final over Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Should Kohlschreiber defeat qualifier Alejandro Fall in the first
round, he and Murray will clash for the second time in three days.
"It was an extremely tough match and a dramatic finish. That always
makes it a little bit nicer," said Murray, who has never been past
the quarter-finals on Madrid's clay. "This gives me a little bit more
confidence obviously with the French Open just a few weeks to go.
"(Winning on Munich clay) is obviously a positive for me, it was a
goal that I had for this year."
"Conditions last week were very different to what they are here.
Obviously I think a little bit more altitude here. But it's been
very warm. Last week it was very cold a lot of the days and raining.
"It's going to be a tricky turnaround. I practiced this afternoon,
and will just make the best of the time that I've got before my match
tomorrow."
In men's first-round play at the joint event, Bulgarian 10th seed
Grigor Dimitrov, a semi-finalist last week in Istanbul, began with an
easy win as American Donald Young retired trailing 3-0 in the second
set having lost the first 6-4.
French 13th seed Gael Monfils hammered Serb Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-0
while Argentine Leonardo Mayer advanced over Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-3.
On the women's side, third seed Maria Sharapova crushed Mariana Duque
of Colombia 6-1, 6-2 to reach the third round, while 2011 winner
Petra Kvitova, seeded fourth, beat Coco Vandeweghe of the US 6-4,
2-6, 6-3
Victoria Azarenka continued her comeback after a 2014 filled with
injury, beating Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3, 6-3.
