Montreal Masters: How to watch Andy Murray vs Taylor Fritz

James Richardson 07 Aug 2022 7:19 PM

Andy Murray

Fan favourite Andy Murray has been handed a tough draw for the Montreal Masters with a first round meeting against American No 1 Taylor Fritz.

Fritz has already bagged an ATP 1000 title this season having lifted the Indian Wells trophy but comes into the event having pulled out of his last match seemingly unwell.

The top-ranked US player retired at 4-1 in the decisive set of his Round of 16 clash with Great Britain’s Dan Evans at the Citi Open.

Murray lost in the first round in Washington, going down to eventual semi-finalist Mikael Ymer.

The former World No 1 felt that his early exit in DC might allow him to be in better shape for Montreal.

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After defeat to Ymer, Murray said: “Well, I mean, the only positive is now that I get more time to prepare for the tournament in Canada.

“I guess if I can address sort of the physical issue I’ve had the last couple of tournaments, then that would be a positive thing.

“I obviously need to address that now.

“The conditions are difficult also in Canada, Cincinnati and New York.

“Yeah, I mean, right now I’m not seeing lots of positives.

“I arrived here early to try and prepare as best as I could to give myself a chance to play well.

“Obviously I feel like I could have done better.”

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Murray is out to earn a seeding for the US Open, a mission he firmly believes he can complete.

“It’s still possible to do it. I would just need to have a good run in Canada or Cincinnati really,” Murray said.

“It’s pretty straightforward: if I was to make a quarterfinal or a semifinal there, which right now doesn’t seem — after a loss like that doesn’t seem realistic.

But I do feel like if I play very well that I could do that. But, yeah, I’ll need to certainly play better than I did today

Other matches on day one include Gael Monfils taking on Pedro Martinez, Pablo Carreño Busta meeting Queens champion Matteo Berrettini, home hope Vasek Pospisil clashing with US journeyman Tommy Paul, 12th seed Diego Schwartzman’s tricky match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Francisco Cerundolo facing Karen Khachanov.