Tough draw for Andy Murray

General / Editor / 20 March 2007 / Leave a Comment

British number one Andy Murray is on a collision course to meet Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of this week's Miami Masters.

The talented Scot has a simple looking opener after he received a first-round bye but will face a tough test against the Australian should he manage to overcome either Paul Goldstein or Ryan Sweeting.

The British number one is in the same quarter of the draw as Andy Roddick and things would not get any easier in the semi-finals where potentially Rafael Nadal lies in wait, barring any unforeseen upsets.

Murray is happy with his form going into the event after reaching the semi-finals at Indian Wells last week, only to be hampered by an ankle injury against Serbia's Novak Djokovic.

"To get the semis of a Masters Series, it's great," Murray said. "Unfortunately, I couldn't give 110%, like I normally do.

"I beat two guys in the top 10 who have been playing very well this year. I'm getting close to the top 10 now.

"I put myself in a good position do that soon. Hopefully I'll be ready for Miami and get a couple days' rest and a few days hard work and I should be feeling good."

The bonus from the 19-year-old's point of view is that Roger Federer is in the other half of the draw, although that may not be such good news for Tim Henman, who could potentially meet the Swiss ace in round four.

However, there is plenty of hard work for the 32-year-old to do prior to that showdown as he gets ready to meet a qualifier in round one, with the winner set to face Spanish 19th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Meanwhile, Alex Bogdanovic is already out of the tournament after he was beaten 2-6 6-3 6-7 (3-7) by Spain's Feliciano Lopez in the first round of qualifying.

A market for the main event will open up when the qualifying stages have been completed, but there is sure to be plenty of interest in Murray, who is enjoying the best spell of his fledgling career, while punters will be keen to see how Federer comes back from his shock second-round defeat against Guillermo Canas in Indian Wells.