Murray Continues Seppi Streak In Beijing

Top seed Andy Murray continued his dominance over Andreas Seppi on Tuesday at the China Open, notching his eighth consecutive over the Italian in a convincing opening round win, 6-2, 7-5.

“I feel like I’m able to get a lot of chances when he’s serving, give myself a lot of opportunities to break,” said Murray. “He’s got very good timing, hits the ball very clean off both sides. I try to use some variety and not let him get into a rhythm. That’s worked well for me.”

Having struggled with a shoulder injury during the Western & Southern Open final in August, Murray said he’s fully healthy now and eager to make a run for the title.

“I thought I did okay considering I hadn’t played much the past couple of weeks. I think I can do better,” said Murray. “But there was some good stuff in there. With each match, I’ll play better hopefully. No injuries. Felt fine. Just need matches now.”

The World No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings broke Seppi twice in each set and put pressure on the Italian’s serve throughout the match, racking up 11 break points compared to just one for Seppi. The British star was also dominant on serve, firing eight aces and winning 88 per cent of his first serve points.

He now leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Seppi 8-1. Seppi won their first ATP World Tour meeting at the Aegon Open Nottingham in 2006, but Murray has won matches against him on every surface since then.

Next up for Murray is the winner of the all-Russian opening round between Andrey Kuznetsov and qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk. The top seed has never played Kravchuk, but leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry over Kuznetsov 1-0.