Tennis: Murray hopes to continue road to recovery in Shenzhen
ANDY Murray is due to play in his penultimate tournament of 2018 at the Shenzhen Open today.
The 31-year-old former world No 1, now ranked No 311 after a lengthy injury spell and following hip surgery last year, is scheduled to face Zhizhen Zhang of China, who is ranked lower than the Scot at world No 340, today.
Both players are wildcards for the tournament in southern China and the winner will play top seed David Goffin of Belgium.
There was a British player in action in southern China on Monday, with British No 2 Cameron Norrie progressing in straight sets ahead of wildcard Di Wu of China.
Murray on Saturday used Facebook to announce that the China Open in Beijing would be his final tournament of the year, with his first appearance in Shenzhen since 2014 the prelude to that.
The Scot, who has watched perennial rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic recover from serious injuries in recent years to the top of their respective games, says he needs a lengthy break to try to find peak condition for the 2019 season.
Murray, who has won five and lost four matches in 2018, said on the ATP website: “I’m not quite back to where I’d like to be yet, but kind of improving each week.
“Hopefully, I can play some good tennis and get on a bit of a run.”
Norrie, the world No 73 in the world, won 6-2, 6-2 in one hour 10 minutes against Di.
The 23-year-old is next due to face Croatia’s world No 18 Borna Coric, who received a first-round bye.
Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Johanna Konta as the British No 1 was beaten in straight sets in the first round of the Wuhan Open.
Konta lost 7-5, 6-4 to Australia’s Ashley Barty, the No 16 seed, in one hour 40 minutes.