ANDY Murray has been handed a bye in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
The tournament starts today but the British No 1, seeded 13th for the tournament, will not be in action until the second round, where he will face the winner of Simon Gilles' match against Mario Ancic.
Murray's last match was a week ago, when he
surrendered a one-set lead to crash out of the Pacific Life Open 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 to Germany's Tommy Haas.
World No 1 Roger Federer, who is in the other half of the draw from Murray, has also been given a bye, and will play either Gael Monfils or John Isner.
Murray's fellow Briton Alex Bogdanovic failed in his bid to qualify, going down 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Serbia's Viktor Troicki.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic, who plays Agustin Calleri or a qualifier, said he was eager to build on his good run of form, having already achieved two of his goals set for this season. "It has been a dream start," said Djokovic, who beat Mardy Fish in the final of a Masters Series event at Indian Wells on Sunday.
"Before I started playing this season, I said that my two goals are to be consistent with the results, reach the Masters Cup and hopefully win one grand slam event (Australian Open). I did all that in a very, very small amount of time."
The 20-year-old Serbian added: "I don't want to stop here. I'll try to keep going in Miami, and I'm defending champion there. Coming up from Indian Wells as the tournament winner, it's much easier."
The full article contains 288 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
