Murray hopes to raise his game

Andy Murray
12 April 2012

Andy Murray admitted he had plenty of room for improvement as he prepared to meet big-hitting Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters.

The Scot survived a nightmare second set to edge past world number 58 Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-7 (7-3) 6-2 on Wednesday night and book his tie with Gulbis, who beat Jurgen Melzer.

Murray told Sky Sports 3: "He (Gulbis) is a good player. He's got a really big game quite similar to Chardy. I don't know if it shows but it's a really fast court and maybe that's why my timing is a little off."

Murray boasts a 4-0 career record against the Latvian. Last year he beat him in straight sets at both the US Open and Wimbledon despite Gulbis' obvious threat on both surfaces.

Murray can ill afford more mistakes of the kind he made against Chardy after seeming set for a quickfire victory when he raced through the first set dropping just three points on his serve.

The second set was a different matter as he dropped three consecutive service games - as did Chardy - before blowing a match point on serve at 5-4 and being nudged into a tie-break, where he lost six points in a row to lose the set.

Murray fought back immediately at the start of the third set showing glimpses of the form that had swept him past Roger Federer to win the Rogers Cup in Toronto last weekend.

He broke the tiring Chardy twice to triumph in two hours nine minutes and added: "Up to 6-3 and 4-3 I was feeling fine, I wasn't making any mistakes and he was just going for everything and making lots of errors.

"I didn't serve particularly well but it was more the way I was hitting the ball from the back of the court. I was hitting the ball short, I wasn't moving my legs at all and he got into a bit of rhythm."

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