Murray prepares for Capdeville as path clears
Andy Murray prepares to face Paul Capdeville tonight as the draw opens up with the loss of Karlovic and Wawrinka.
“You have to be a sadomasochist to want to play Rafa Nadal,” remarked Richard Gasquet before his first round clash with the world number three.
The same could be said for wanting to face the ferocious serve of Ivo Karlovic. The Croatian possesses one of the most dominant serves in the male game which makes him a feared opponent on the tennis circuit.
Fortunately for Andy Murray the possibility of facing Karlovic in the third round evaporated when the number 27 seed was defeated by Spaniard Ivan Navarro in straight sets.
And the already grateful world number two received some more good news after the potential danger man of round four was also removed from the draw.
Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka bowed out of Flushing Meadows in sensational style. Despite holding a comfortable two set lead over Nicolas Lapentti, Wawrinka failed to finish the Ecuadorian off, ultimately crashing out in five sets.
The 19th seed had caused Murray problems in their famous clash in the fourth round at SW19 earlier this year, but Murray will now avoid a re-occurrence of the toil that occurred underneath the new roof on Centre Court.
As Murray prepares for his second round match-up with Paul Capdeville, he can take solace from the fact that an awkward draw has now opened up.
His path to the quarter finals should be significantly easier without the prospect of facing the serving expertise of Karlovic or the insidious play of the tenacious Wawrinka.
It will provide Murray with a renewed sense of vigour as he approaches tonight’s clash. Capdeville is currently ranked number 87 in the world.
It’s a game the Scot will expect to win comfortably.
Murray will be familiar with the Chilean’s playing style as the pair spent time hitting together when in their teens at the Barcelona tennis academy.
Since then, Murray has shot up the rankings while Capdeville has been residing in the in the lower echelons of the top 100 for a couple of years.
If Murray make it through tonight’s match on the Arthur Ashe court unscathed as widely predicted, then he can expect to face either Ivan Navarro or Taylor Dent in the third round.
