ANDY Murray was made to sweat a little amid soaring South West London temperatures before booking his place in the second round at Wimbledon.
Amid on-court temperatures in excess of 41 degrees Celsius, and a day when the tournament enforced special rules to guard against heat exhaustion in women's matches, the World No 3 got his campaign to reclaim the title which he won back in 2013 underway with a 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory against Mikhail Kukushkin, the World No 58 from Kazakhstan.
While it maintained his decade-long record of never losing in the first round here, this match also had the rare distinction of featuring two male players with female coaches. While the heavily-pregnant Amelie Mauresmo sat in the heat alongside new boy Jonas Bjorkman in the Scot's player's box, seated a short way away was Anastasia Kukushkina, both wife and coach to the 27-year-old.
Kukushkin had played twice on Centre Court before, extending Roger Federer to a first set tie-break in a three-set defeat in 2011, then taking a set from Rafael Nadal before going down in four, and he also presented the Scot with some difficult moments. There was little to choose between the players in a tight first set but Murray just shaded it. He exerted some extra pressure on Kukushkin as he served to stay in it at 4-5, eventually capitalising on his second set point after a lengthy rally.
Then it was into a topsy turvy second set in which the Scot surrendered his serve no fewer than three times but still managed to win. He appeared to be running away with it at 3-0 and 4-2, but with his first serve percentage dropping off he was left desperately clinging on, the Kazakh just two points away from equalling matters as he served for it at 6-5. But, showing the confidence gleaned from his finest season in terms of match wins to date, he held his nerve, forced the break, and raced away to take the breaker 7-3.
After the dramatics of the second, the third set was noticeably more mundane. Unlike women's matches, where a ten minute break is enforced before the third set if either player requested it, it was straight back into the action, and this was becoming a bit of a slog. The Scot broke for 3-2 and played solidly throughout, and after saving two break back points as he served for the match, just seemed delighted to get off the court and into the shade. He was through to the second round when one last Kukushkin return flew long.
"It was a tough match," said Murray. "I made it hard for myself at the end of the second set. Towards the end of that second set I missed about 10 or 11 first serves in a row so I gave him an opportunity to be aggressive. He played some very good stuff and made it difficult for me. There is definitely work to be done for me but I felt my opponent played very well. Kukushkin played some great shots and made it hard for me to be aggressive. I am glad to get it done in three sets and I am not worried too much about what the other players are doing."
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