WHAT A WINNING FEELING
Murray savours his first victory in almost a year
ANDY MURRAY took a giant step in his comeback from injury yesterday by winning his first match in almost a year.
The Scot eased past Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 in only one hour and 17 minutes to take his place in the second round of the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.
Murray will now take on British No 1 Kyle Edmund tomorrow as he bids to prove his fitness ahead of Wimbledon.
But Murray, who made his comeback from hip surgery last week at Queen’s Club with a three-set loss to Nick Kyrgios, reiterated that he had not yet made up his mind about competing at SW19 next month.
‘I’m not going to decide about Wimbledon until nearer the time,’ said the 31-year-old. ‘I’m delighted to get the win. I played well, although I was a bit nervous towards the end.’
Facing a threetimes grand Slam champion, ignoring dive bombing seagulls and now a meeting with the man who has usurped him as British no1.
If andy Murray thought he was in for a sedate week beside the sea in Eastbourne he was sorely mistaken, but he was not inclined to complain last night.
The Scot has the winning feeling again after beating Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 to reach the second round of the nature Valley international at Devonshire Park.
next up, tomorrow, is his Davis cup team-mate Kyle Edmund, who in Murray’s absence has tried to plug the very considerable gap there has been in the British game since he limped out of Wimbledon last year.
This was Murray’s first win since beating Benoit Paire in the fourth round at SW19 on July 10 last summer. if he manages to down the world no 18 from Yorkshire it will perhaps convince him that he should return to the all England club next week.
During his 77-minute win against Wawrinka he again covered the court encouragingly well. Murray does not divulge details of his hip condition but is understood to have had at least one injection of some sort in recent weeks and — whatever has happened — it seems to be doing the trick.
‘i’m delighted to get the win,’ he said. ‘i thought i played well the first set, the second set was a little bit patchy at times and i was a bit nervous towards the end.’
On the prospect of meeting australian Open semi-finalist Edmund, he said: ‘He’s improving all the time and getting up close to the top of the game, which is a credit to him and everyone who works with him. So i’m expecting a tough one.’
Murray can still move slightly awkwardly between points but during them he can dart around, not as fluently as when he last won Wimbledon, but nonetheless effectively.
His reflex returns of serve, always one of his great strengths, seem to have lost little, and it was heartening to see him pull out big first serves often when he needed them. He rode out his one mini-crisis when the burly Swiss forced four break points at 4-3 in the second set.
His natural feel for the grass is evident but still nothing is conclusive about this Murray comeback. Wawrinka is ranked 225 and, following knee surgery, is still not back to the levels which once saw him turn the Big Four into a quintet.
He was not being mean-spirited in his analysis when he said his own performance, strewn with errors, made judgment difficult.
‘i think today andy was playing and moving well, for sure,’ he said. ‘it’s also first round, so it’s tough to really say where his level is because also he didn’t need more today — i couldn’t find my game. Someone like andy will never lose his tennis.’
in a complete turnaround from this time a year ago, when Murray meets Edmund it will be the younger man — not on his favourite surface — playing under more pressure.
Murray’s win was not the only positive happening yesterday for the British game as Dan Evans and alex Ward put themselves within two victories of making the Wimbledon main draw when they won their opening matches in the qualifying event.
Evans beat Belarussian ilya ivashka 6-4, 6-4 in sweltering conditions at Roehampton.
The former British no 2, who has been ranked inside the top 50, was not given a wild card by the all England club as a matter of ‘principle’ following his 12-month drugs ban.
He returned to the game more than two months ago and has been the best performing British player since — but has still been overlooked.
That meant the 28-year-old had to come through pre-qualifying at the end of the last week, which involved winning three games in 28 hours.
He had to play twice on Friday in farcical conditions that saw players run out of water and have no towels.
it was a tough assignment for Evans against 127th-ranked ivashka, third seed in qualifying, who has a big serve and powerful forehand.
But Evans was able to negate that with an effective use of his backhand slice and was able to win thanks to a break in each set.
He meets australian Marc Polmans in the next round.
Ward, the country’s sixth best player, came from a set down to beat Darian King 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 and harbours hopes of a second successive run to the main draw.
The 28-year-old got through to the first round in 2017 but lost to compatriot Edmund.
Teenager george Loffhagen and Murray’s occasional hitting partner aidan McHugh lost their matches.