Andy Murray produced one of his best performances in 2024 to ease beat former top 10 player David Goffin 6-3 6-2 and reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The 2009 champion in the desert was simply superb on serve as he made it through to a meeting with fifth seed Andrey Rublev on Friday.
After starting the 2024 season 0-4, the 36-year-old has now won each of his past three first-round matches.
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The former British No 1 hit a couple of vintage back-to-back winners during his convincing win
Murray, now ranked at No 61, never faced a break point as he improved to 8-0 against Goffin, including taking all 17 sets they’ve played against each other.
Strong serving was key to Murray’s latest victory, with the 36-year-old winning 85 per cent (23-27) of his first-serve points and not facing a break point in the match.
“For me it was the serve,” he said. “That frees up a lot of the rest of my game. When you’re always having to fight and work for points on your own serve, you feel more under pressure but today I got a lot of free points off my serve.
“That freed me up in the return games and I was able to strike the ball well from the back of the court, defended well when I had to. An all-around solid performance.”
In a nip-and-tuck first set, Murray had to be patient after a break point in Goffin’s opening service game was held before he was able to strike when 4-3 up.
Murray claimed his first break of the match in the eighth game and sent down two aces to seal a 34-minute opener where he won the final 10 points.
The momentum was with the British No 4 now and a double-fault by Goffin handed him an early advantage in the second set.
Murray continued to ask questions of Goffin’s serve and a second break arrived to put him on the verge of a place in the last-64, which was sealed with an ace.
Tim Henman on Murray the perfectionist
“It was the controlled aggression from the back of the court. He wanted to bully Goffin. He wanted to take the ball on, and he did that and kept the error count down. To win in such convincing style is a great start.
“You want to see him out on court enjoying himself. He is a perfectionist but that hasn’t been happening for him recently with the frustration of practising well and then not delivering on the match court, he knows the tennis he is capable of.
“Every win at this stage of his career is a good one.”
Laura Robson: He was able to play tactically well
“He was a bit more relaxed about the situation and maybe the head to head played a part being 7-0. He kind of knew he had this guy’s number. He was able to play tactically well rather than get annoyed with himself. It was great to watch and I hope that run continues.”
Disappointing exit for Draper
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O’Connell nailed this beautiful backhand winner on his way to victory over Draper
Jack Draper suffered disappointment in California as he lost in three sets to Chris O’Connell in the first round.
British prospect Draper had made the last 16 of the tournament in 2023 but lost six games in a row in the final set to go down 1-6 6-3 6-2 to his Australian opponent.
It continued a frustrating period for Draper, who made the semi-finals of the Mexican Open last week but had to retire during his last-four clash with eventual champion Alex de Minaur.
Draper initially showed no ill-effects after he had battled food poisoning in Acapulco and eventually edged a lengthy fourth game to go 3-1 up before he saved a number of break points to consolidate his advantage.
Another break followed to allow the world No 37 to take the opener 6-1 but he sent down two double faults at the start of the second to hand O’Connell the initiative.
The Aussie did not look back and forced a decider, which started with Draper saving four break points before he broke to go 2-0 up.
Draper ran out of gas though, with world No 66 O’Connell booking a second-round meeting with Alexander Zverev.
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Laura Robson felt it looked like Jack Draper ‘ran out of gas’ against Christopher O’Connell while Tim Henman described his performance as ‘erratic’
What’s happening in Indian Wells on Thursday?
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Emma Raducanu explained her fitness goals for the season before Abu Dhabi last month
Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu takes on Swiss-born Spanish world No 96 Rebeka Masarova in the first round of the unofficial fifth Grand Slam at 7pm UK time on Sky Sports Tennis.
Masarova is 2-6 for 2024 and she beat Britain’s Heather Watson in qualifying.
Raducanu, who has been working with childhood coach Nick Cavaday, says working on her game rather than winning matches is the priority this year.
The 21-year-old, who reached the fourth round in the Californian desert last year, has been training at home in London for the last couple of weeks, and she said: “I want to work on becoming a better tennis player.
“I think for me I’m not too concerned about this year’s tournaments. A lot of people out there would say that I need matches, but I think that for me I want to work on my game and development.
“Taking time to do that is very necessary and not just following the crowd, or playing a lot of matches, or dropping down (below the WTA Tour) to do that. I want to work on developing skills.”
Dan Evans, Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal are also in action on day two of action in the Californian desert.
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