Murray may have to draw on spirit of the Olympics

ANDY MURRAY and Juan Martin del Potro met twice last year and ran each other to a standstill, the two matches lasting an aggregate nine hours and nine minutes. Today they face a repeat of those epic Olympic final and Davis Cup semi-final encounters and a win could yet signal a timely upturn in Murray’s so-far misfiring season. Kyle Edmund forms the second part of a GB double bill, when he takes on South African Kevin Anderson. The unknown factor is the state of Del Potro’s troublesome body. In his second-round match he called the physio on to treat a groin problem, but went through soon afterwards because his opponent, Nicolas Almagro, retired with a chronic knee injury. If recovered, the towering Argentinian (right) represents a nightmare thirdround draw. If his mobility is affected then Murray is perfectly equipped to ruthlessly expose him. ‘It’s an old problem for me, so my physio knows how to treat that,’ said Del Potro, whose moving attempts to comfort the distraught Almagro only reinforced his reputation as one of the good guys. ‘Hopefully I can be in good shape, because I’m feeling good with my game at this moment, but I need to be physically strong for the long rallies.’ His ranking of 30 is falsely depressed because he missed the first two months of the year, as Murray knows. Del Potro was actually the last player to beat the Scot in 2016, in September’s Davis Cup epic. ‘I didn’t feel great for the next couple of days,’ said Murray. ‘But he also will remember those matches. They weren’t easy for him either, they were tough for him and I will try to make it the same again.’ Should Murray make it into the second week his draw does not look the most fearsome and he is likely to play progressively better, as he did here last year.