Andy Murray begins Wimbledon preparation with assertion Surbiton Challenger win

Andy Murray obtained off to a roaring begin on the Lexus Surbiton Trophy as he formally began his grass season. The world No 43 wanted simply 70 minutes to defeat Hyeon Chung 6-3 6-2.

Surbiton marked Murray’s first outing on the grass this season. The two-time Wimbledon champion has made it no secret that he’s hoping to have a deep run at SW19 this 12 months and pulled out of the French Open to have extra time to arrange on the floor. 

As the second seed in Surbiton, he obtained a tough opening-round draw in Chung – the previous world No 19 who burst onto the scene when he upset Novak Djokovic on the 2018 Australian Open. The Korean star has since been sidelined for a number of years because of accidents.

Murray drew first blood, breaking to take a 3-1 lead over the 27-year-old. He by no means let the now-unranked Chung get a correct have a look at his serve and raced to take the opener 6-3 in 36 minutes.

The 36-year-old’s second serve stats proved essential within the first set, profitable 86 per cent in comparison with Chung’s 44 per cent. Murray then got here by way of a monumental opening recreation to open the second set, needing virtually 10 minutes to interrupt his opponent’s serve.

The Brit rolled on the ground throughout one robust change however he was capable of safe the break and continued to sail by way of the remainder of the match. Chung was by no means capable of even get to deuce on the Murray serve and located himself damaged once more so the second seed might serve for it.

And Murray booked his spot within the second spherical with a convincing win for the lack of simply 5 video games. The world No 43 is defending his semi-final run from 12 months in the past in Surbiton and is bidding to push his rating excessive sufficient to earn a spot as one of many 32 seeds at Wimbledon.