Britain’s Andy Murray began his Dubai Championships campaign with a 6-4 7-5 win over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller. The Scot, 27, came through in one hour and 45 minutes and will play Joao Sousa in round two, three weeks after beating the Portuguese at the Australian Open.
Muller, coached by Briton Jamie Delgado, held on gamely in the face of four break points during a 19-minute third game but Murray made the breakthrough swiftly at the next opportunity. One break proved enough to give the world number three the set, although he only narrowly came through an unconvincing service game to seal it after 62 minutes. An early break in the second put Murray in complete control, the quality of his returns constantly troubling the Muller serve, and a straightforward win looked on the cards until he stumbled at the finish line. Muller got the benefit of a net cord to level at 5-5 but Murray upped his game to break for a third time and made no mistake as he closed it out at the second attempt.
“I think the end of both sets I didn’t serve so well,” said Murray.
“But apart from that, I didn’t give him any opportunities really. I feel like I got a little bit unlucky at the end of the second set.
“He got a couple of net cords in that last game, the 5-4 game where I got broken, and did very well to respond straightaway and get the break right back. I thought I played a fairly high quality match.”
“I made him work very hard on his service games,” said Murray. “That was something I wanted to try to do from early on.
“The end of both sets I didn’t serve so well but apart from that, I didn’t give him any opportunities really
Ward, 28, was playing on the nearby Court One and pushed hard in the first set against Lopez, but he failed to convert any of six break points and the Spaniard grabbed his solitary chance.
Lopez moved 2-0 clear in the second and despite saving four match points on serve in game nine, Ward could not get the break back required and went down in straight sets.
Tomas Berdych also made it through, battling to a 7-6(2) 6-4 win over Jeremy Chardy.
“I made it complicated a bit more than usual,” admitted Berdych. “But it’s important that I won the last point of the match and got through it.
“Not every day is going to be perfect. It was a solid day to make.”
Gilles Muller vs Andy Murray, 24/02/2015, 12:15 GMT, Match Center
Andy Murray beats Gilles Muller in Dubai first round
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