Andy Murray, the world no. 1, booked himself a seat in the third round of Monte Carlo Rolex Masters which is the first significant ATP event on clay of the regular season. The 29-year-old Scot finds himself in the main character's shoes leading the upper half of the draw.
Murray who is yet to win an ATP title in 2017 will try to build a momentum at this tournament especially after a well-anchored display of tennis against Gilles Muller. Being the world no. 1 might be Murray's biggest career achievement but he is yet to confirm this particular new status and so far, the season of 2017 hasn't been that great.
Recovering from an elbow injury, Murray will have multiple questions to find an answer to during the clay court swing.
Murray handled well with an unpredictable opposition
The first test for the Scot shaped itself in the form of Gilles Muller(28 ATP) from Luxembourg. The 33-year-old seemed quite motivated in the opening stages against Murray especially after he successfully broke Murray's serve just at the start of the match. Having a break of serve leverage, he procured several set points in the 9th game of the opening act, but he failed to put the set away. Murray bounced back, and the set seemed to be heading towards a tie-break, but it was Murray the one pressing harder on the pedal. The set went on Murray's pocket by 7-5.
The second set saw an apparent rerun of the previous one with Murray losing on his own serve in the first game. This time, his response came immediately as he broke Muller in the following game thus not allowing his opponent to consolidate the lead.
Once again, they went toe to toe heading to a decisive tie-break. As in the opening set, the world no.
1 called an earlier end of the party by capping the set on his opponent's serve. It was 7-5 7-5, and the Scot is in the next round where he is set to face a 29-year-old Spaniard ranked inside the top 30. But, the real tests are still ahead having Berdych and Wawrinka looming in the higher stages.
Murray shares draw with Wawrinka and Berdych
Andy Murray, the first seed in Monte Carlo, who has never won the Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo has a difficult road ahead having Tomas Berdych as a potential opponent in the quarterfinals while Stan Wawrinka's shadow looms for the semis. The bottom half of the draw is where Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are roaming. But, it's a bit early to think that far as Murray's next test will bring Albert Ramos-Vinolas (24 ATP) up for facing the world no. 1.
