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Andy Murray faces tricky test in Rome opener
Chris Jones27 Apr 2009
Andy Murray will begin his Rome Masters campaign against clay court specialist Juan Monaco after the Argentine beat Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-3 in today's first round.
In their only meeting, the British No1 beat Monaco in the second round of the Miami Masters last month on his way to taking the title. However, that was on a hardcourt, where world No58 Monaco has a 29-41 win-loss record compared to clay, where he is 101-60.
Monaco has already beaten David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo, ranked 18th and 17th in the world respectively, on clay this season and had little trouble seeing off Keifer, who at 31 is the oldest player in the Rome tournament.
Rafael Nadal arrived in Italy hoping to avoid the same fate as last year when he lost to Ivan Ljubicic in the second round — his last defeat on clay. The world No1 clinched the Barcelona Open title with a 6-2, 7-5 win over David Ferrer.
Reader views (2)
Are you serious? Bad luck? Murray has the BEST draw of the top 4, as he did in Monte Carlo. Stop cribbing about him being in Nadal's half of the draw, Djokovic always had that happen to him last year and in 2007, which allowed Murray to get to so many finals while Federer was going through a bad patch. And if Murray is scared of Rafa on clay he shouldnt be ranked any higher than he is now anyway. I cant believe how blind people in the UK can be when it comes to Murray.
- Stu, ny, usa, 28/04/2009 18:11
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Only luck has kept Djoko where he is if he continues geting the other half of the draw to Nada just by getting to the meating Nadal in the final instead of the semi he will have gained 1200pts while Andy will have lost 1200. Regardless of other results, luck or anything else if Murray reaches the quarter finals he WILL be the world no 3. His real problem is this bad luck of the draw could help Federer in his attempt to stay no 2 to the total of 1200pts.
- Terence Davis, Hull, England, 27/04/2009 11:47
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