Murray Finds Range In Stuttgart Opener

Andy Murray began his ATP Tour grass-court season in style on Tuesday at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart, where the former World No. 1 enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 first-round win over Christopher O’Connell.

The 46-time tour-level titlist dropped the first three games of the match but soon found his rhythm, breaking the Australian qualifier O’Connell four times on his way to a 95-minute win on tournament debut at the ATP 250 event. The victory improved the Briton’s career record on grass to 111-23.

Back to winning ways! 💪@andy_murray takes out O’Connell 6-4 6-3 to advance in Stuttgart#BOSSOPEN pic.twitter.com/nhBcQ2TPqj

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 7, 2022

Murray opted to miss much of the clay-court season to focus on his preparations for grass. Last week the two-time Wimbledon champion had his first competitive outing on the surface for 2022 at the Surbiton Trophy ATP Challenger Tour event, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to Denis Kudla.

Murray may face Kudla again in the second round in Stuttgart, but only if the American can find a way past seventh seed Alexander Bublik in his first-round match.

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Also on Tuesday, Dominic Stricker sprung a first-round surprise as the #NextGenATP Swiss came through a tight three-set battle with Maxime Cressy.

The 19-year-old qualifier was playing his first ATP Tour main draw match of the season against serve-and-volley specialist Cressy, but Stricker showed no nerves as he ran away with the deciding set tie-break to complete a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(2) win. He next faces top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The World No. 55 Marton Fucsovics staged a comeback to prevent another qualifier from advancing in Germany. The Hungarian dropped the opening set in his first tour-level meeting with Austrian Jurij Rodionov, but he claimed the only breaks in both the second and third sets to seal a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 and set a second-round meeting with third seed Hubert Hurkacz.