Murray Opens Campaign As Nation Expects

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.

World No. 4 Andy Murray began his quest to become the first British male champion at The Championships since 1936 with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Jan Hajek on Tuesday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Playing on Court 1 for the first time since his second ever match at Wimbledon in 2005, the Scot overcame a slow start to defeat his Czech opponent in one hour and 41 minutes. Hajek made life difficult for Murray in the first set, breaking serve to lead 2-1 and maintaining his lead before Murray was able to get back on level terms in the eighth game. The Dunblane native then broke serve again in the 12th game to seal the one-set lead. The second and third sets were much more straightforward for Murray as he broke serve twice in each to secure the comfortable victory.

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"The start of the match was tricky," admitted Murray. "I haven't seen him play that much. He started very well. But once I got back into the first set, I did start to feel a lot more comfortable. Served well and didn't give him many chances. Definitely got better as the match went on."

The 23-year-old Murray came into Wimbledon struggling to find his best form. Since reaching his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open (l. to Federer) at the start of the season, the right-hander has failed to advance past the quarter-finals in any of the eight tour-level events he has contested.

Murray will be hoping for an upturn in form over the next fortnight as he looks to emulate Fred Perry’s 1936 success. He achieved his best result at Wimbledon last year, reaching the semi-finals before losing out to Andy Roddick. The fourth seed next will face Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, who defeated Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-4, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-2.

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"Obviously coming here helps," said Murray. "It's obviously a great place to play. I've had good results here the last few years. When you play well in a place beforehand, you tend to play well there and it makes you feel more comfortable when you come back. I enjoy playing the big events. If there's extra pressure, I don't think it affects the way that I play. You just got to get your head 'round it and deal with the pressure."

Looking ahead to the next round, the Scot said: "He's a very solid player. He doesn't hand matches to you. You have to go out and beat him. He's not going to make many mistakes. So I have to play well." 

In a potentially tricky first-round clash, American No. 19 seed Sam Querrey navigated his way through to the second round as last week’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion Sergiy Stakhovsky retired injured when trailing 7-6(4), 6-3, 2-1.

The 22-year-old Querrey also came into Wimbledon in good grass-court form, having won his first ATP World Tour title on mowed lawns at The Queen's Club (d. Fish) just over a week ago. It was one of three titles the World No. 21 has won this season, having also triumphed in Memphis and Belgrade. The California native will look to advance past the second round at Wimbledon for the first time when he faces Croatian Ivan Dodig next.

"My goal for this Wimbledon is just to be positive; shoulders back; after the point, win or lose, those first few seconds," said Querrey. "Only show positive emotion if you're gonna show emotion; just go out there and have fun."

French No. 26 seed Gilles Simon continued his comeback to the tour with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(0) first-round victory over Spain’s Guillermo Alcaide. The 25 year old, who reached the fourth round (l. to Ferrero) last year, missed the Australian Open and a further two and a half months of the season between March and June with a right knee injury. He returned to competition last week in Eastbourne with a quarter-final (l. to Llodra) showing.