Impressive Murray signals intent for new campaign

The tide has barely turned to signal the start of a new campaign but Andy Murray is already riding the crest of a wave. The international tennis season officially opened yesterday but by that time the 21-year-old Scot had already registered victories over the world's two best players.

Murray will be the last person to get carried away by performances in an exhibition tournament, which players can treat in much the same way that footballers regard pre-season friendlies, but his victories over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and final respectively of the grandiosely titled "World Tennis Championship" in Abu Dhabi should serve as confidence-boosters for the challenges ahead.

The British No 1 was certainly in good heart after his victory over Nadal on Saturday as his entourage celebrated with dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. Murray was wearing his clothes inside out and Jez Green, one of his fitness team, was resplendent in eye-liner and mascara, their forfeits for losing a "head tennis" match during a training session.

Now Murray moves along the Gulf coast for his first tournament of the year, this week's Qatar Open in Doha, which will be his only competitive preparation for the Australian Open, which begins a fortnight today. Federer, Nadal, Andy Roddick and seven other top 50 players will join Murray in a tournament that provided the British No 1 with one of his five titles last year. Murray, who also reached the 2006 final, beat Nikolay Davydenko and Stanislas Wawrinka on his way to his triumph 12 months ago.

Murray's draw this year has not been unkind, with 28-year-old Albert Montanes, the world No 43, his first opponent. The two men have never met before, but Murray will know that the Spanish No 8 prefers clay to hard courts, having never gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam event on the latter surface.

The winner will play Germany's Philipp Petzschner (world No 66) or France's Jeremy Chardy (No 74). If Murray progresses he could then meet Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in the quarter-finals, with Federer seeded to meet him in the semi-finals. Nadal, who first plays Fabrice Santoro, heads the other half of the draw, which also includes Roddick and Gael Monfils.

Hefty appearance fees have no doubt helped to attract a high-class field and will further bolster Murray's booming bank balance. Having left his final tournament of last year, the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, richer by $625,000 (about £430,000), Murray banked the winner-takes-all prize fund of $250,000 (£172,000) in Abu Dhabi along with his appearance money.

Murray's 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 over Nadal provided nearly three hours of entertainment for the 5,000-capacity crowd at Zayed Sports City, even if both men sometimes played the sort of extravagant tennis you would not expect to see at a competitive event. The results of exhibition matches do not go into the official record books and players often use them to test parts of their game.

It was their first meeting since the US Open in September, when Murray beat Nadal for the first time in six attempts to earn a place in his first Grand Slam final before losing to Federer.

For Nadal the Abu Dhabi event provided a useful return to action after the knee injury that kept him out of the latter part of last season, including Spain's Davis Cup victory over Argentina. "I feel I played well but Andy played a bit better," he said.

"He has carried his form over from the last four months and he has a good chance to win in Australia. For me it was a very good test. Playing for two hours and 45 minutes at the best level is good. I forgot about my knee and my injury. I'm looking forward to the year."

Murray said he felt tired, but the way he covered so much ground was no doubt a reflection of the physical work he did during the off-season. He was in Miami for most of December, accompanied by his friend Ross Hutchins, the British Davis Cup doubles player, along with his coaching and fitness team. They spent many gruelling hours on the track and in the gym, at the end of which Murray had added more muscle to his already impressive physique.

"It was a tough match," Murray said of his win over Nadal. "He made me do a lot of running and in the first week of the year you obviously feel it in your body a bit."