Murray fighting fit for French Open despite defeat

Friday 25 May 2012

Andy Murray's last semi-competitive outing before the French Open may have ended in defeat yesterday, but the good news for the Scot is that the back injury that has dogged him at times this year is easing by the day.

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Simon Cambers

On a perfect day at the Paris Country Club, an exclusive venue with the stunning Saint-Cloud racecourse as its backdrop, Murray found Ernests Gulbis too hot to handle, losing 7-6, 7-6 to the enigmatic Latvian at the Masters Guinot Mary Cohr exhibition event.

The ultra-talented Gulbis, who beat Roger Federer in Rome this time last year but who has dropped to 92 after frequently falling to less stellar opponents, said he had not played as well in two years, but Murray let him back into the match, having led 4-1 in the opening set.In front of a half-filled stadium, there was not much on show by way of rallies as Gulbis either hit a winner or a loser, but two tiebreaks kept the crowd happy.With coach Ivan Lendl watching on from the stands, Murray was not exactly breaking his neck to get to some shots from his opponent but he pronounced himself satisfied enough with his day's work, before heading back out to practice. "It's always a tough one against him," he said. "There's not much rhythm. It doesn't necessarily feel like a clay-court match because there aren't many long rallies."But it was good to get a match. I don't know how long we were out there for, but we obviously played a lot of games, so I hit a lot of serves and returns."I'll go and practise again later, just try to get a bit more into a rhythm, but I've practised well the last few days, so it's been good."When Murray lost in the third round at the Rome Masters last week, he said his back had been bothering him, on and off, since December. However, it appears that the Parisian sunshine may have done the trick, for the Scot said he will go into the French Open in far better shape than he was when he left Italy after the tour's last stop."I feel better than I did a few weeks ago," said Murray, who has been working on his game again this week with Lendl. "I need to get some matches and some good practice under my belt."I've also done some good work in the gym as well to try to strengthen some things. I've felt better each day, which is important."Despite the improvement, Murray will doubtless be hoping to avoid some of the more dangerous floaters when the draws are made today.Though Murray will again fly the flag alone for Britain's men here, the country could have four women on show if Heather Watson and Laura Robson can join Scotland's Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong in the main draw.Watson eased past last year's junior champion Ons Jabeur 7-6, 6-3 to set up a match with Anna Floris of Italy. Robson saved several set points in the first set before getting the better of Laura Thorpe of France 7-5, 7-6 and today takes on Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat her to win the Australian Open junior title in 2010.

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Murray fighting fit for French Open despite defeat

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