BIRTHDAY boy Andy Murray was remaining confident he would give clay king Rafael Nadal "a decent run for his money" as he prepared to him in the third round of the Hamburg Masters today.
The British No.1 followed up Monday's impressive win over Dmitry Tursunov with an even better performance against Gilles Simon yesterday, beating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-3.
World No.2 Nadal has complained bitterly about this year's schedule, with t
hree Masters tournaments in four weeks, and there are signs he is feeling the strain.
After successfully defending his titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, the Spaniard lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome last week after struggling with blisters.
And he was far from dominant in a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) victory over Potito Starace yesterday, the Italian wasting a set point by serving a double fault.
Murray has failed to beat Nadal in two meetings, neither of which were on the Spaniard's favoured clay, but was in contention in both, including a five-set marathon at last year's Australian Open.
And the Scot, who turns 21 today, believes the opportunity is there to claim a shock victory – if he matches his performance against Simon.
"It'll be a good experience for me," he said. "He's obviously playing unbelievable on clay.
"I know he had a few problems with his feet last week so I don't know if he's got rid of them yet but if I play like I did (against Simon) I can make a match of it.
"I'm obviously not expected to win but I do feel like I can give him a decent run for his money on the clay."
Clay-court specialist Simon was expected to provide a stern test for Murray but the Scot brushed him aside with impressive ease in little more than an hour.
After breaking the Frenchman's serve in the first game, Murray cruised to the first set and a shocking eighth game from Simon in the second gave the 15th seed the impetus.
Murray looked like he may respond in kind after slipping to 0-40 but five points in a row saw him clinch victory after another unforced error from Simon.
The world No.14 has come in for criticism for his erratic performances on clay but he believes it has simply been a case of a lack of experience.
"It's (about) getting a bit more confidence playing on clay," he said.
"Everyone keeps asking me why I can't win any matches on clay but I've had a couple of good wins this week and hopefully I can keep it going in my next match.
"These guys play tough. You have to be very patient.
"I was very young and very inexperienced the last couple of years and wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but now I've played seven, eight matches on the clay over the past four or five weeks and I'm feeling much more comfortable, and I think that showed on the court because he's a difficult player."
The full article contains 516 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
