Andy Murray faces old Wimbledon foe Fernando Verdasco at Queen's
Thursday 18 June 2015 16:13, UK
Andy Murray will be hoping to avoid another epic encounter against Fernando Verdasco in the Aegon Championships on Thursday.
When they last met in the capital, Murray needed to battle back from two sets down for a quarter-final victory over the Spaniard on his way to winning the Wimbledon title in 2013.
The Scot was not at his best during a 6-4 7-5 win over Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round, but Verdasco believes his opponent will quickly find his feet at Queen's Club after an impressive clay-court campaign.
He has the game of course to adapt to grass pretty easily, he serves well, he returns well too, and he has a very good backhand.
The world No 42 said: “He has the game of course to adapt to grass pretty easily, he serves well, he returns well too, and he has a very good backhand.
"So he has everything to play well on grass, that's why he won Wimbledon and the Olympics. Everybody knows already what kind of player he is, especially on grass; he's a big threat for anyone."
Murray will turn his attention back to singles action after he and Dominic Inglot, his Davis Cup team-mate, suffered a 6-4 7-6(3) doubles defeat to top seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares.
Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov starts the centre court schedule in West Kensington with a clash against Gilles Muller, while fourth seed Marin Cillic later takes on Viktor Troicki, a losing finalist at the recent Stuttgart Open.
Live ATP Tennis
Classy Kei at Halle
At the Halle Open, second seed Kei Nishikori resumes his bid for the title against Dustin Brown.
The Japanese player reached the semi-finals of last year’s tournament, where he lost to seven-time winner Roger Federer.
Nishikori, who started with a win over the dangerous Dominic Thiem, should showcase his stylish ground strokes against Brown, one of the tour’s flamboyant figures.
Gael Monfils always guarantees entertainment to the watching crowd and he returns to action against Mikhail Kukushkin.
The fourth seed displayed his razor-sharp reactions with a stunning volley as he secured a straight sets win over Lukas Rosol in his opening match.
But he did lose his only encounter with Kukushkin at the Australian Open, back in 2012.
You can watch the second round matches at the Halle Open from 11am on Sky Sports 3.
