Murray ready to lock horns with old foe Verdasco
THREE-TIME Queen’s Club champion Andy Murray booked a second-round clash with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco after starting his grass-court season with a routine victory over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun at the Aegon Championships yesterday.
Top seed Murray dropped a service game in each set but powered through 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 19 minutes against world No63 Yen-hsun, who beat the Scot at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Murray and Verdasco are not strangers either. World No3 Murray dispatched his rival in five sets during a quarter-final tussle at Wimbledon two years ago, a tournament at which the 28-year-old was crowned champion.
“I had a great match with him at Wimbledon a few years ago, came back from two sets to love and won in five,” said Murray.
“He’s an extremely dangerous player. He plays extremely well on the grass, so I’m going to have to be ready for that one and play a solid match. I look forward to it.”
British No1 Heather Watson, meanwhile, allayed fears that an elbow injury would prevent her appearing at Wimbledon after crashing out of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham following a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 defeat to Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic.
“I’m definitely going to Wimbledon,” said Watson.
“I don’t think that’s why I lost. I’m still managing it, still looking after it. I lost because I played really poorly. I made too many unforced errors and I was very inconsistent.”