Andy Murray wins again in Mallorca as he continues to regain his confidence
Andy Murray continued to ease himself back into singles tennis with another comfortable win at the Rafael Nadal Open in Mallorca.
The former world number one rejected the offer of a wildcard for the US Open, deciding instead to step down a level to rebuild his confidence and rhythm.
He powered past unranked teenager Imran Sibille in the opening round, dropping just one game.
And he continued to get himself back in the winning habit by beating Slovakian Norbert Gombos, the world number 116, 6-3, 6-4.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Murray, who had his serve broken in each of the sets, but he was still relatively comfortable in the end.
Murray will face Italian Matteo Viola next, who is ranked 240th in the world.
Explaining his decision to play the Challenger event rather than the US Open, Murray explained after his first-round win: “I need to get a bit quicker, and get a little bit more match fit before I’m back competing at that level again.
Yep, @andy_murray is back.
🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️💨💨💨 pic.twitter.com/UL0WTLAqZR
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 27, 2019
“That’s why I decided to drop down a level and try to get some more matches in.
“It’s still only seven months since my surgery and I was told that nine to 12 months after you will still be seeing improvements, muscles will still be healing and recovering so hoping by the end of this year I will be feeling better.”
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