Andy Murray Withdraws From Basel 2006 Through Illness

Andy Murray failed to recover from a throat infection in time for his opening match in Switzerland and will now concentrate on recovering in time for the Paris Masters next week.

In some ways a rest from competition may do Murray more good, but it's hard not to admire the determination to play at every opportunity.

Source:
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Illness forces Murray to pull out

Andy Murray Vs Juan Martin Del Potro - 1st Rnd - Basel 2006

The lure of another tournament was evidently too much for Murray who has decided to delay his rest to play in Basel.

Last year, Murray got to the qtr-finals before being knocked out by eventual winner, Fernando Gonzalez. This tournament was most notable, however, for throwing up the first Murray Vs Henman encounter which Murray won 6-2, 5-7, 7-6.

Murray is seeded 6 for this tournament and has a decent chance of getting to the qtr-finals again.

First up is Del Potro (91) who is 16 months younger than Murray but is still inside the top 100. This could be a harder match than the ranking suggests.

If Murray overcomes this hurdle he will face either Burgsmuller or Bastl, both of whom are below the 150 mark.

The Qtr-Finals could be Gonzalez (again!) with the possibility of Nalbandian in the semi's and Federer in the final.

This tournament is being shown on Eurosport so I'll post the schedule when I have it. Play starts on Tuesday.

** UPDATE **
I've just checked the schedule for Tuesday and Murray isn't on it, so it looks like he won't be playing this match until Wednesday now.

Source:
Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel

Djokovic Fights Back To End Murrays Run In Madrid - 3rd Rnd - Madrid Masters 2006

One set up and one break up, Murray looked to be cruising into the qtr-finals. But seemingly a combination of brave play from Djokovic and a mentally tired Murray, turned the result around.

Djokovic eventually won 1-6 7-5 6-3.

Afterwards, Murray said:

"Obviously I was very disappointed to lose that match as I was pretty much on top of him, but I served really badly today,

"But it's been a pretty good tournament for me even though I would have liked to have gone on for longer."

There's no doubt that Murray has played a lot of tournaments this year. Looking at the top 20, only four players have played more tournaments in 2006. And that doesn't factor in five Davis Cup matches.

Perhaps Murray would do well to take a break at the next opportunity he gets.

Source:
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Madrid losses for Murray & Henman

Andy Murray Adds Victory Against Ljubicic To His 2006 Highlights

I was driving home from an exhibition in Birmingham yesterday afternoon so I had to make do with occasional updates on Radio Five Live.

After Murray dropped a little in the second set and Ljubicic levelled at one set all, I started thinking back to that result in February. But Murray held his first two serves to love and finally broke Ljubicic in the 8th game.

Murray then served out for the match, finishing with an ace.

6-4 3-6 6-3 against the world number 3, will sit nicely alongside this years victories against Hewitt, Roddick (twice), Gonzalez, and Federer.

Next up is Novak Djokovic (17). The two players know each other well (Murray is seven days older), but Djokovic has had an extra two years as a pro, so this should be a close match.

The match is scheculed after Haas Vs Nadal which starts at 7pm (UK Time), so the start could be as late as 9pm.

Source:
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Murray stuns third seed Ljubicic
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Gamewatch: Murray v Ljubicic

Andy Murray Defeats Ivan Pastor - 1st Rnd - Madrid Masters 2006

Pastor held Murray off in the second set until he had to serve to stay in the match. The final score: 6-2 6-4.

Ivan Ljubicic (3) will be the next opponent. Their only meeting was a victory for Ljubicic in Croatia in February 2006. Murray won the opening set that day, but went on to lose the next two.

As soon as I have an order of play, I'll post it here.

Source:
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Murray breezes through in Madrid

Andy Murray Vs Ivan Navarro Pastor - 1st Rnd - Madrid Masters 2006

The ATP website isn't working at the moment so I can't pull up a comparison, but suffice to say that Navarro is 120+ in the rankings so Murray has a good opportunity to break his losing streak.

In fact, as I type this, Murray has won the first set 6-2. His first serve percentage for this first set was an impressive 75%.

If Murray carries on in this fashion he will play Ljubicic who has a bye to the second round.

Dropping to 20 in the rankings has cost Murray a seeding for this tournament so it will take a real effort to get past the 2nd round. Murray is in the same side of the draw as Davydenko and Nadal. Federer is in the other half of the draw.

Andy Murray - One Year On - October 12 - 19 2006

After pulling a hamstring in a match against Xavier Malisse the previous week, Andy Murray was advised by his physio to take a 10-day break.

In non-match related news, the media was talking about the forthcoming Aberdeen Cup and Murray's profile during the 2012 Olympics.

Source:
Andy Murray News Archive - October 2005

Murray & Murray Lose in Qtr-Finals - Mens Doubles - AIG Japan Open 2006

After waiting three days for the rain to stop, Murray & Murray lost in straight sets to Goldstein & Thomas - 7-6(4), 6-1.

Not the best of weeks for Andy but he will no doubt be thrilled for his brother Jamie who moves up to 88 in the doubles rankings, making him the British doubles number one. Well done Jamie!

Sources:
AndyMurray.com Bros Lose
BBC SPORT Tennis Henman climbs in world rankings

Andy Murray & Jamie Murray Vs Paul Goldstein & Jim Thomas - Qtr Finals Mens Doubles - AIG Japan Open 2006

Rain has delayed play in Tokyo so Murray & Murray will have to wait to play their match.

As with the last tournament in Thailand, all the seeded pairs have been knocked out of their half of the draw so two strong performances could put them into a second consecutive final.

Andy Murray Defeated in Tokyo - 2nd Rnd - AIG Japan Open 2006

Apologies again for the delay in posting. I've really got to get over my hatred of writing about Andy Murray's defeats. No tennis player - not even the mighty Federer - wins every single game.

Murray was defeated in the 2nd rnd by Jiri Novak 6-3 7-6 (7-1).

Davis Cup aside, this makes for Murray's third defeat in a row and definitely qualifies as a mini slump in form. But before I get all depressed again, here's some reminders of why Murray's fans expect so much from the nineteen year old.

- In approximately 18 months as a pro, Murray has risen to number 16 in the world.
- The average age for breaking into the top 100, is 21. Murray has reached 16th place at the age of 19.

So far this year, Murray has:

- Reached his second ATP final.
- Defeated Federer in straight sets.
- Reached the Qtr-Final and the Semi-Final of Master Series tournaments.
- Reached the 4th rnd at Wimbledon and the US Open (one round more than his seeding).
- Led the GB Davis Cup team to their first win in three matches.

Achievements such as these leads everyone to expect more than is reasonable. It's easy to forget that Murray went through a slump in form earlier this year and then bounced back to achieve all of the above.

Further success will come. His fans just need to show some patience now and again.

And yes, that includes me :-)

Source:
BBC SPORT | Tennis | Murray slumps to defeat in Japan

Andy Murray & Jamie Murray Defeat Eric Butorac & Travis Parrott - 1st Rnd Mens Doubles - AIG Japan Open 2006

Andy Murray will play Jiri Novak onWednesday, but has already bagged his first win along with his brother Jamie Murray in the first round of the doubles.

Murray & Murray beat Butorac & Parrott 7-5 6-3.

I've lifted the score straight off the live scoreboard so all I have for now is some stats.

Match Time: 56mins
1st Serve Percentage: 85%
Points Won: 62/116

And a first for me. I've managed to blog this news before the official Andy Murray site did :-)

Source:
JTA Official Live Score

Andy Murray Vs ??? - 2nd Round - AIG Japan Open Tennis 2006

Murray has a bye through the first round and will play either Robin Vik (86) or Jiri Novak (130), neither of whom he has played before.

Looking further ahead (always a dangerous game), Murray will likely meet Benjamin Becker (75) in the third round, but isn't scheduled to meet a higher seeded player (Murray is 4th for this tournament) until the semi-final when he could meet Roger Federer (1).

No word yet on when Murray will play his match, but expect it to be Tuesday at the earliest. I'll keep an eye out and post details as soon as I can find it.

Source:
AIG OPEN 2006 - Tournament Schedule

Andy Murray & Jamie Murray Runner-Up - Thailand Open 2006

A great doubles performance from the brothers Murray saw off the challenge of Haggard & Kerr 7-6 6-4 to secure their place in the final.

There they met the number one seeded pair of Erlich & Ram and although they won the second set, they lost on a champions tie-break - 6-2, 2-6, 10-4.

This will, hopefully, go some way to relieving the disappointment of a first round exit in the singles tournament and also bodes well for Andy Murray's future in the doubles section of the Davis Cup.

Source:
andymurray.com | The bros lose
andymurray.com | Into the final