Andy Murray wins but hopes busy schedule won't hamper title chances

Published on Wednesday 1 September 2010 20:11

Andy Murray made a belated start to his US Open with a straight-sets victory over Lukas Lacko yesterday and hopes the cramped schedule will not hamper his chances of a first grand slam title.

The Scot was the last of the top four seeds to play in the first round, but made up for lost time with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win in one hour 51 minutes on the third day of the year's final grand slam. Murray was delighted to get off the steamy court quickly in temperatures that topped 32 degrees Celsius.

But if Murray is to win the title, he will have to win his seven matches over 12 days, compared to seven in 14 for five-time champion Roger Federer, who began his campaign on Monday.

"It's a lot easier to play the matches in 14 days, anyone would tell you that," said Murray. "I don't really know whether I like it or not."

Murray was relatively untroubled by the heat or world No 71 Lacko, fretting only once when he dropped serve early in the second set and slammed his racket against his foot in disgust.

Otherwise, it was smooth sailing for the Scot, a runner-up to Federer in New York in 2008 and also runner-up to the Swiss maestro at the Australian Open earlier this year. "It wasn't necessarily the best tennis," he said. "But it was tricky conditions out there. It was very windy and it was a guy I've never played against, but I did enough to win in straight sets, and that was the most important thing."

Murray suffered a loss of form and motivation after his defeat in the final in Australia but said he had begun to feel good about his game again when he reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in July. Last month, he beat both Rafa Nadal and Federer in Toronto to win his first title of 2010.

"I played badly after Australia but then Wimbledon gave me the confidence again," he said. "Then I came over (to the United States) and practised hard and obviously I've had a good run in the tournaments, which definitely helps."

In the second round, Murray will now play Dustin Brown, a Jamaican who may be eligible to play Davis Cup for Great Britain if he can prove reports he has a British grandmother.

One man Murray will no longer have to worry about in his title quest is the Wimbledon finalist, Tomas Berdych, who crashed out in straight sets to France's Michael Llodra in the biggest shock of the day.

World No 35 Llodra just missed out on being seeded for the main draw, but proved why he was a player many of the seeds wanted to avoid with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Berdych was not the only seed to fall on day three, with 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia beaten in four sets by 18-year-old American qualifier Ryan Harrison.

"The weather was my biggest enemy today," said 31-year-old Ljubicic.

"Throughout my career I struggled with the heat. I tried all kind of different tactics to deal with it. I never find the right one."