ATP Shanghai Masters: Andy Murray beats Teymuras Gabashvili in straight sets
Wednesday 8 October 2014 08:11, UK
Two-time Shanghai champion Andy Murray made a winning return to the event with a 6-1 7-5 win over Teymuras Gabashvili.
Murray, who missed the tournament last year due to injury, looked solid in every department, getting the job done in 85 minutes to set up a second meeting in the space of a week against big-hitting Pole Jerzy Janowicz.
Murray followed up his tournament win in Shenzhen with a semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic in Beijing last week and he will be hoping success in China will nudge him towards a place in the ATP World Tour Finals.
Having moved up to ninth place in the race to reach the Finals, the Brit is currently 175 points behind Milos Raonic with only the top eight in the standings at the end of the regular season guaranteed a place at the O2 Arena next month.
"I started the match well," Murray told Sky Sports 3. "He wasn't in much of a rhythm at the beginning and I was dictating a lot of the points using good variety and that helps.
"In the second set I played a sloppy game on my serve and he gained some confidence from that and started playing better. He was timing the ball well so I just had to find a way through in the end.
"It was a good start for me ... but there's still some work to be done."
Energetic start
Murray made an energetic start to the match, showing fantastic reaction speed around the blue hardcourt following some entertaining early rallies.
The 27-year-old Scot raced into a 4-0 lead before his opponent finally held serve, but Murray did not have to wait much longer to close out the set after just 27 minutes of action.
Live ATP Masters Tennis
Qualifier Gabashvili broke Murray twice at the start of the second set to take a 4-2 lead as the Scot complained to the umpire about his opponent's continuous grunting.
But the two-time grand slam champion soon regained his momentum to level things up as the 55th-ranked Russian failed to serve out the set and was soon under-pressure again as Murray finished the job in style by breaking once more to advance.
Murray will next take on Janowicz for the second week running after a pulsating first round meeting at the China Open in Beijing which the world No 11 won in three gruelling sets.
"Hopefully I'll be able to start the match a little bit better this time around," he said. "I went down 5-1 when we played and got off to a slow start and then managed to find my way into the match.
"Hopefully I can play better at the start of the match and make it harder for him. He's a dangerous player and a big guy. I'll try and play a solid match from start to finish and try and not give him so many opportunities."
Victory at the Shanghai Masters is worth 1000 points towards the ATP's Race To London standings.
Watch LIVE action of Murray v Janowicz at the ATP Shanghai Masters on Sky Sports 3 HD from 6am on Wednesday morning.
