Andy Murray has returned to second in the world in the ATP rankings, a level he has enjoyed only once – for a fortnight – four years ago. Now the Scot is hoping to settle in for a longer stay after winning his second title at the Miami Masters with a battling 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) defeat of Spaniard David Ferrer.
Murray is taking his return to No. 2 behind Novak Djokovic as just another quiet achievement. “It’s nice just to have been able to do it this week, so I don’t have to go into Monte Carlo or Madrid or Rome thinking about that.
“For me it doesn’t change a huge amount, but the fact that I’m moving up the rankings is a good sign. I’ve been winning a lot of matches. My consistency has been better over the last few months. The rankings obviously reflect that. I’ll try and keep working hard during the clay and hopefully I can go higher.”
Murray will now go confidently into the clay season, starting in Monte Carlo in a fortnight. he admits he had a close call in finally beating Ferrer in just under three hours,
“I’m sure, tomorrow, I will realize that today was an exciting match. I don’t think either of us played our best tennis. There was a lot of breaks and ups and downs, quite a lot of mistakes from both of us.
“But what I did do was fight hard, showed good mental strength to get through that match, because it easily could have slipped away from me.”