Murray masters Volandri in Monte Carlo to set up tie with Djokovic

Tuesday's 6-4, 6-1 victory over Italian Filippo Volandri means that he will tomorrow take on the Australian Open champion, who is a week younger than him.

Their third-round clash will be the third time they have met in their senior careers, with Murray yet to conquer the 20-year-old Serb who beat Ivan Ljubicic yesterday and can claim to be the world's leading player of 2008.

Neither are at their most comfortable on clay and Murray has little to lose in trying to make up the gap that has opened up between them, with Djokovic streaking ahead in the past year.

"He's had a great start to the season and is playing well and he is expected to win the match," said Murray. "I just want to play like I've been doing in the last couple of days and if I do that then I've still got a good chance."

Faced with the wily Italian No 1 who is ranked 42 in the world, Murray managed to put in a more rounded performance than the one which saw off Feliciano Lopez in the first round.

He is still feeling his way back on to the clay surface and it is a measure of his inexperience that this is the first time he has made it as far as the third round of a Masters series on the surface.

Perhaps most eye-catching about the 20-year-old Scot was his superbly athletic court coverage. More predictable was the way he was able to attack Volandri's relatively weedy serve. Yet there were plenty of unforced errors on both sides and the Italian would have made it a closer run thing if he had converted more than one of his nine break points.

That he did not was partially down to Murray pulling out strong serves when he most needed to do so. The British No 1 broke decisively in the 10th game of the first set and had three breaks in total during the second while having to save the break in three games on his own serve. Super-confident Djokovic is likely to be more clinical.

Andy's brother, Jamie, and doubles partner Max Mirnyi were beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg in their opening match. Jamie Murray said: "It was our first match together on clay and we are disappointed we didn't take our chances after breaking early in the second set. The Poles hit big on serve and off the ground and we weren't sharp enough on return or at the net."

Murray and Mirnyi, from Belarus, will remain in Monte Carlo to prepare for the Barcelona Open.

They must do well to ensure a place in the Rome Masters Series event.