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Murray self-critical after laboured victory on clay

Derrick Whyte
Tuesday 25 April 2006 00:00 BST
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Andy Murray declared himself "a bit disappointed overall" despite a three-set victory over the wild card Marcel Granollers-Pujol yesterday. The 18-year-old Scot reached the second round of the Barcelona Open after beating the Spaniard 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Murray was, ironically, helped over the line by his opponent going down with cramp ­ which had been the prime reason for Murray's early exit at last week's Monte Carlo Open.

Next in line for Murray is another Spaniard, the world No 12 David Ferrer, with the match provisionally set for tomorrow. "I knew it would be a tough matchas I have not played that much on clay since the French Open," said Murray, who was a losing-semi-finalist in last year's junior event. "I made a lot of mistakes and I wasn't playing very well. I was glad to come through, but I was a bit disappointed overall."

He continued: "I didn't do anything really that well. I didn't have too many big serves and I made a lot of mistakes on my backhand. I kept fighting the whole match, though, and that was the main thing you could say when you come through as you can always do better in the next round."

Murray began well and broke immediately, but Granollers-Pujol dominated the rest of the set to surge into a surprise lead. The local player broke to lead 3-2 in the second set, but Murray found form at that crucial stage and took four of the next five games to level the match.

Leading 1-0 with serve in the decider, Murray's opponent took a medical time-out and, although Granollers-Pujol returned to break serve, thereafter it was one-way traffic for the British 18-year-old. Granollers-Pujol was reduced to playing almost on one leg at times due to his pain.

Murray is still looking for a full-time replacement for his former coach Mark Petchey, from whom he parted earlier in the month. His manager, Patricio Apey, revealed that there were a number of candidates under consideration. "A number of people have been suggested as possible replacements ­ some of them correct, some of them not," Apey said. "We are taking our time in trying to find the right person."

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