Murray advances but Achilles puts Wimbledon in question

Things are never simple when Andy Murray is around. The 19-year-old Scot enjoyed one of his best victories for four months when he beat Dmitry Tursunov in the first round of the Red Letter Days Open in Nottingham yesterday, but an Achilles injury could force him to withdraw from the tournament and disrupt his plans for Wimbledon.

On a court that the No 1 seed, Thomas Johansson, described as "dangerous" the previous day, Murray slipped during the first set of his 6-4, 6-3 victory. The British No 2 received treatment to his right ankle for five minutes from Bill Norris, an ATP trainer, before winning three points in a row to break Tursunov's serve and take the set.

Murray still appeared in pain in the second set, but he broke the Russian's serve in the second game and served out for the match. He is next due to play Max Mirnyi, who beat the British No 4, Alex Bogdanovic, but will make a decision on whether to continue this morning. "I slipped and felt my Achilles tendon jar," Murray said. "I thought it was bad at first, but now it just feels like it's bruised."

He added: "Obviously this tournament is important, but it's not the same as playing at Wimbledon, so I asked Bill, 'If I slip again and do the same thing, is that going to make it bad?' He said, 'Yes, possibly.' But he told me not to think about it and said I should play. I'll now take stock in the morning."

Murray's brother, Jamie, suffered a knee injury on the same court, forcing their retirement from the doubles on Monday, though he did not blame the surface. Andy felt the court had played a part in his own injury, claiming it was "damp" deep behind the baseline.

The injury marred a good performance by the world No 45, whose spring campaign has been so disrupted by illness and injuries that he had gone to Nottingham with only three wins in his last 11 matches. Tursunov is the world No 31 and has knocked out Tim Henman in three of the last four Grand Slams.

British involvement in the Hastings Direct International Championships at Eastbourne ended when Anne Keothavong won only four games against Russia's Vera Dushevina. The 22-year-old British No 1 said Roger Draper, the new chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association, should "come and listen" to the players if he wants to address the poor state of the British women's game. "It's easy for people to get on our case and say we are just not good enough but we work our butts off all the year round," Keothavong said.

Mary Pierce is the latest leading player to pull out of Wimbledon, which will announce its seedings today. The former French Open champion has a foot injury.