Murray sees reason to smile again
Andy Murray felt he had taken an important step to getting his season back on track as he ended a four-match, two-month losing streak with a welcome victory on Wednesday in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: April 14, 2011 02:57 PM IST
Andy Murray felt he had taken an important step to getting his season back on track as he ended a four-match, two-month losing streak with a welcome victory on Wednesday in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
The 23-year-old third seed overwhelmed veteran Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-4 and suddenly felt a lot better about his tennis.
"I'm going to try and keep that up. The more matches I play, the better my rhythm is going to get," said the Scot, who next faces classy Frenchman Gilles Simon.
"I'm sure I can go far in the big tournaments."
Despite a reputation as a hardcourt player, Murray - who finessed his tennis as a teenager in Barcelona on clay - says he's a big fan of the dirt.
"I like clay, I play well on clay. I think I can have good results on it if I play like I did today at the start," he said.
"It got a little bit close at the end. I was up 6-1, 4-2, 30-Love against a guy who is a very tough clay court player, so I think I can play well on the surface, very well."
Murray put his late wobble, when 32-year-old Stepanek began a short-lived fightback, down to a lack of recent play.
"It's not a lack of confidence; it's lack of not playing matches.
"Once you get used to playing a lot of matches, closing out matches becomes kind of second nature. I've played three, four matches since Australia in two months.
"Maybe you overthink things a little bit. But I went for it and hit the ball really clean. I wasn't missing and moved really well. I'm really happy."