STUART FRASER

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TENNIS
JAMIE MURRAY BACK TO WINNING WAYS IN OZ
BritishTennis.net
By Stuart Fraser in Melbourne
25^th January 2009

Jamie Murray returned to winning ways today with victory in the first round of the Mixed Doubles at the Australian Open after a defeat in the Men’s Doubles on Thursday.

The Scot was reunited with former partner Eric Butorac for the Men’s event after new partner Dusan Vemic had already committed to playing in Melbourne with Lovro Zovko.

Sixteenth seeds Murray and Butorac were drawn to play unseeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador and Spain’s Tommy Robredo in the first round but it was the seeded pair who struggled in the hot and blustery conditions.

Murray, in particular, struggled with his serve in the wind whilst, on the other hand, Lapentti and Robredo had no such problems serving and looked the more comfortable pairing, winning in straight sets 6 – 4, 6 – 4.

In the mixed doubles, Murray hooked up once again with regular grand slams partner Liezel Huber from the USA.

Murray and Huber were seeded fourth but faced a tricky first round encounter against Australia’s Sophie Ferguson and Chris Guccione.

Guccione is renowned for his powerful and accurate serving but partner Ferguson was broken twice by Murray and Huber on deciding Deuce points in the first set to take it by 6 games to 2.

Murray was having no problems serving, unlike Thursday, and it was he and Huber who were clearly the more experienced pair, particularly at the net.

The set went on serve until 5 – 5 when Murray and Huber sensed the moment and again put pressure on the serve of Ferguson.

The tactic worked with the fourth seeds yet again gaining the break on the deciding Deuce point and Huber then served well to clinch the set and the match in straight sets 6 – 2, 7 – 5.

The win will be a boost for Murray who is battling it out with Ross Hutchins for a place in the Davis Cup squad for the match against Ukraine in Glasgow in March after captain John Lloyd said that he will only be picking one doubles specialist.

Murray and Huber will now face Natalie Dechy and Andy Ram with the match expected to take place on Tuesday.