ANDY MURRAY battled his nerves and difficult slow, windy conditions to book his place in the second round draw at Roland Garros - then revelled in his expanding role as mentor to the new generation by cheering on as Englishman Kyle Edmund joined him there.
The World No 3 received a warm welcome on the Philippe Chatrier court throughout his 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory against Facundo Arguello, the World No 137 from Argentina, a factor which may or may not be attributed to the fact that he now has a Frenchwoman, Amelie Mauresmo, among his entourage. He said afterwards that some extra support wouldn't hurt his hopes of winning a first French Open title, at a venue where he has twice reached the semi-finals, in 2011 and 2014.
"Well, I mean, obviously today was my first match, so I'm not 100% sure, I guess," said Murray. "But the biggest test is if I play against a French player. They obviously give great support to the French players here. But, yeah, if my connection with Amélie helps, then that's great for me."
The World No 3, who has now won all 11 matches he has played on clay this season, will now face either Joao Sousa of Portugal or Vasek Pospisil of Canada in the second round on Thursday. He said nerves were natural in the first round of major tournaments. "I was nervous today," he said. "But I don't mind nerves because it shows you care. It's quite a long build-up which we don't have at loads of the other events. And these are the tournaments you really want to perform well in. So at the start of the tournament is always normal to be a little bit nervous. I hope to play better as the tournament goes on."
Murray then hot-footed it to Court No 7, where he saw Edmund become the first British player outside of Murray to win a men's singles match here since Tim Henman in 2006. The Yorkshireman took his first-ever five set match by a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 scoreline against Stephane Robert of France. Heather Watson was another British winner yesterday, beating Mathilde Johansson of France by a 6-4, 7-5 score. "I was very grateful to all of the players that were nice to me when I first came on the tour, because it can be tough," he said. "Some guys weren't nice. And I remember that, too."
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