Draw favours Murray… until week 2

Defending champion should despatch early-round opponents, but bogeymen await

ANDY MURRAY has achieved enough to know that there is no easy way to win a Grand Slam. And the US Open draw will only have reinforced that feeling.

The US Open, Olympic and Wimbledon champion is defending a Grand Slam for the first time next week, but to do it he will most likely have to beat his bogeyman Tomas Berdych and the two best players in the world.

Berdych is lined up as the world No 3’s quarter-final opponent, with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal expected to follow in what would be a gruelling second week at Flushing Meadows.

The bad news is that Murray has losing records against all three. The good news is that he beat Berdych in the semi-final in New York last year, disposed of Djokovic in the Wimbledon final and doubts still remain about Nadal’s knee over the course of a fortnight.

Before that, Murray’s route looks fairly kind. He opens up against French veteran Michael Llodra, these days mainly a doubles player and someone to whom Murray has never lost. The 33-year-old is ranked 49th in the world. They last faced each other in the 2012 Australian Open, when Murray eased to a straight-sets victory in Melbourne.

Journeymen Victor Hanescu and Juan Monaco are likely to follow before a potential fourth- round clash against tenacious clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro.

They should be disposed of fairly easily but Berdych will provide a sterner test. The world No 5 beat Murray in straight sets in Cincinnati a fortnight ago and has won six of their 10 meetings.

That looks like the toughest quarter-final draw despite Nadal drawing Roger Federer, now the world No 7 and a long way from the man who won this title five years in a row.

The Swiss is back playing with his old racquet after experimenting miserably with a larger one but it seems he is not a contender for the title for the first time in distant memory.

Federer’s record makes Djokovic the bookies favourite ahead of Nadal and then Murray, though many are tipping the Spaniard after seeing him win back-to-back titles in Montreal and Cincinnati, something that seemed unthinkable when he lost to Steve Darcis at Wimbledon.

The British No 1’s form since winning Wimbledon has been average but probably irrelevant. Before losing to Berdych in Cincinnati, he was defeated in the last 16 in Montreal by Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis.

But Murray knows all that matters is peaking for the Grand Slams, something he has become increasingly good at, reaching the final of the last four he’s competed in.

Murray is not the only Brit in new territory. Laura Robson is seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time and will fancy her chances of progressing through a few rounds.

Robson is the first British woman to be seeded in such an event since Jo Durie at the 1987 Australian Open.

The 30th seed really made her breakthrough on the big stage in New York last year with her run to the fourth round, a feat she repeated at Wimbledon, but expectations have been tempered by a wrist injury that has dogged her in the build-up.

Robson will meet Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino in the first round and could face Li Na again in the third round, as she did last year.

British No 2 Heather Watson, who is still struggling for form after recovering from glandular fever, faces a tough first-round tie, being drawn against Romanian 21st seed Simona Halep.

Serena Williams is favourite for the women’s title and opens against former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. Maria Sharapova has withdrawn with a shoulder injury so Victoria Azarenka, who beat Williams in the final in Cincinnati last weekend, will likely provide the main threat to the four-time champion. – Daily Mail

AP PHOTO WHAT A FEELING: Britain's Andy Murray will be aiming to recapture that winning feeling and defend his first Gram Slam crown at the US Open which starts this week but has a gruelling schedule ahead.