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Murray pleased to progress

Murray pleased despite slow start

01/17/2012 09:52:24 AM

World No.4 Andy Murray attributed to the hot conditions to the slow start to his Australian Open campaign, but was happy with the way he finished off his first-round match with Ryan Harrison.

Murray struggled early in his match as Harrison broke his serve twice before claiming the opening set, but the Scot regrouped to race through the final three sets and book his spot in the second round.

Murray, who was beaten in last year's final, said the sweltering conditions at Hisense Arena, combined with the fact he has never met Harrison before contributed to his poor start to the match.

"Some weeks you feel very comfortable in the conditions straight away; sometimes it takes a few matches," he said.

"It's very different conditions what we've been practicing in. The court plays different. I mean, it was incredibly hot today."

"Balls bouncing up very high, whereas it's been cool, and this court particularly reacts a lot with the temperature. It took me a little while to adjust to that."

"Also, I've never played or hit against him before, so it always takes a bit of time to get used to the guy you're playing. But once I did, I started to play better."

Murray recently teamed up with former great Ivan Lendl and the 24-year-old said his coach could sympathise with what he was going through out on court.

"Yeah, I played better (in the last two sets), but he understands how you might be feeling at the start of a Grand Slam, what it's like to play against someone that you haven't played against, what it's like playing in different conditions, how you feel in really warm conditions," Murray said.

"It's just good to have someone there that, you know, understands all of those things."

"Someone maybe without the experience might walk in and be like, What the hell were you doing in the first set? What were you playing the first six or seven games?"

"You know, he understands the feelings that you go through. Once I started moving better, I played better. Last few sets were good."

Next up for Murray is Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who will be feeling fresh after Xavier Malisse retired from their match after just 64 minutes of play.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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