Murray starts slowly but cruises past Devvarman

Andy Murray recovered from a poor start to defeat Somdev Devvarman 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-3 in his first-round match at the US Open yesterday.

The world No 4 dropped his opening service game and then trailed early in the first-set tie-break, but he pulled through, and, from then on, there was only one winner.

In round two, Murray will face big-hitting Dutchman Robin Haase, who has won their only previous meeting and could prove to be a tricky opponent for the Scot.

Murray and Devvarman were meeting for the first time, but the British No 1 had an insight into the Indian’s game from friend Dani Vallverdu, who is a key part of the 24-year-old’s coaching team and who faced Devvarman in college tennis in the US.

The 26-year-old is ranked 64th in the world and is yet to pull up any trees on the ATP World Tour, but he made a very positive start and immediately put Murray under pressure on his serve, forcing his opponent to battle back from 0-40 and then taking a fourth break point.

The Scot is often a slow starter, though, and any concern that the first set might slip away from him were allayed when he broke back at the third time of asking in the sixth game.

It was an entertaining contest, with Devvarman eager to come to the net, while Murray was timing the ball pretty well on his groundstrokes.

The fourth seed would have been frustrated not to finish off the set before the tie-break after having openings in a number of Devvarman service games, but the Indian held on and some sloppy play from Murray saw him trail 3-1.

But again he addressed the issue quickly and two big serves helped him create three set points, of which he took the third when Devvarman netted a forehand he really should have made.

Murray made the perfect start to the second set with a break in the opening game only to give his advantage back in sloppy fashion with a double fault.

But the world No 4 was clearly in the ascendancy now, his groundstrokes just too powerful and accurate for Devvarman, and Murray broke again in the fifth game, this time to love with a trademark backhand down the line.

Devvarman’s chance looked to have well and truly gone and Murray made it four games in a row with a second successive break before serving out the set.

Murray looked in a hurry to get the match finished and, although he was still not playing at his best, it was far too good for Devvarman.

A break in the opening game of the third set cemented his advantage and he extended his run of games to eight with a second, dragging his opponent from side to side and then finishing off the point with a volley.

The Indian at last got on the board in the fifth game, and he was given a reprieve when Murray missed a match point serving for it at 5-2 and was promptly broken. It was only temporary, though, Murray sealing victory on his next opportunity.

It was a decent enough performance from the Scot as an opening effort, but he will know he must cut down on a tally of 44 unforced errors.

Murray admitted nerves contributed to his unconvincing start. “I thought the second and third sets were good,” he told Sky Sports 2. “I was nervous at the start and I think that showed. I got off to a bit of a slow start.

“Once I managed to play a bit closer to the baseline I started to dictate a lot of the points. It’s very breezy out on court.”

On second-round opponent Haase, he added: “Tough match. He’s a tough player. He nearly beat Rafa [Nadal] at Wimbledon a few years ago. He likes playing big matches.”

Sixth seed Robin Soderling was yesterday forced to withdraw from the tournament through illness. Soderling had been struggling with a wrist injury, while he pulled out of the Masters tournament in Cincinnati with throat problems, which doctors believe may be related to the virus from which he is now suffering.

Soderling’s agent, Nina Wennerstrom, said in a statement: “He is feeling really bad. His stomach was hurting. He experienced head pain and the doctor recommended to him not to play. He started feeling ill last night and still was hoping to play his match, but basically he was feeling too bad to play a five-set match in a grand slam tournament. He will try to get back home as soon as possible for further examinations.”

The 27-year-old added on Twitter: “Hi my friends, I am sorry, but I just couldn’t play today. I had no energy, had stomachache, headache and talking to the doctor we decided that I just couldn’t play. I really hope to recover quickly.”

The Swede’s place went to Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Da Silva, the luckiest of lucky losers, who took to the Grandstand court to defeat Ireland’s Louk Sorensen who had to retire injured in the fourth set with the score 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0.