Andy Murray had to spend the day at the office for his 27th birthday, but it was not exactly an unfortunate setting for a workplace.
Murray took to the tennis court at the Foro Italico on Thursday and celebrated the start of his 28th year by beating Jurgen Melzer 7-6(1), 6-4 in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Rome’s No. 7 seed recovered from an early break in the first set before prevailing in one hour and 41 minutes.
The eighth-ranked Scot posted the following on Twitter: “Thanks for all the birthday messages! Off out on the town now to celebrate.. #carnage”
Murray did not, however, get a present from Mikhail Youzhny. The Russian, who is 0-4 lifetime against Murray, took the first set of his third-round match against Rafael Nadal but eventually went down 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 in two hours and 44 minutes. Now the two-time Grand Slam champion has to go up against Nadal, against whom he is 5-13 during his career.
Nonetheless, Murray did not sound like a man disappointed that he has to face the world No. 1.
“I’d love to play against him,” Murray said in an interview with Sky Sports prior to Nadal’s victory over Youzhny. “It will be a great match for me with the French Open just around the corner, because I’ll see exactly where my game’s at and what I need to improve. I haven’t played him for a long time, regardless of the last time on clay. I didn’t play him at all when Ivan (Lendl) was coaching me. Both of our games will have changed in the last three years.”
The two competitors have not square off since 2011, a year in which they met five times. Murray won their most recent encounter 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the Tokyo final, but Nadal had gotten the best of their four previous collisions in 2011.
Topics: Andy Murray, Internazionali BNL D'Italia, Jurgen Melzer, Ricky Dimon, Rome, Tennis, Tennis News
HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO ANDY MURRAY, WHO CELEBRATES WITH A WIN BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/aLRN327HuC @andy_murray #tennis
RT @10sBalls_com: HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO ANDY MURRAY, WHO CELEBRATES WITH A WIN BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/aLRN327HuC @…
RT @10sBalls_com: HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO ANDY MURRAY, WHO CELEBRATES WITH A WIN BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/aLRN327HuC @…