Andy Murray beats Mischa Zverev at Munich Open
- Published
Andy Murray began his clay-court season with a comfortable win over Germany's Mischa Zverev at the Munich Open.
The British number one, playing under new coach Jonas Bjorkman for the first time, won 6-2 6-2 in 75 minutes.
Murray, who had a bye in the first round, is the top seed and his Munich debut was also his first match since getting married on 11 April.
The Scot, 27, will face Czech Lukas Rosol in round three as he looks to win his first ATP title on clay.
His chances have been enhanced with the withdrawal of French second seed Gael Monfils.
Murray faces final hurdle |
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Despite two appearances in the last four at the French Open, Murray has yet to reach a clay-court final. He has made five semi-finals on the surface, losing to Rafael Nadal four times and Novak Djokovic once. |
Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut is the highest ranked of his possible opponents at 16 in the world, while Italy's Fabio Fognini failed to build on last week's win over Rafael Nadal in Barcelona as he lost 6-3 6-0 to Austria's Dominic Thiem.
Murray swept through the first four games of his opening match and Zverev was unable to recover.
The German, 27, is the elder brother of rising teenage star Alexander Zverev, but with a ranking of 653 it was unlikely he would unduly trouble the world number three.
Murray saw off some resistance in the second set in the shape of six break points - three in an edgy final game - but Zverev could not convert and the Briton closed it out on serve.
"It wasn't too easy," said Murray, who later reached the doubles semi-final with Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer.
"He had a different style to most other players and it was tricky playing against a left-hander, but I got the important points. He was returning from a long way back.
"My forehand went better than my backhand, but it was a good first match for me."
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