Andy Murray’s bid to be seeded for the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon began with a convincing victory over Chung Hyeon in the first round of the low-key Surbiton Trophy.
Less than seven miles separate the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club and the courts of SW19 but Murray’s journey has started with a 6-3 6-2 victory in the sunshine.
The two-time Wimbledon champion skipped the French Open to focus on his grass season and this was his first match in preparation for next month.
Murray, 36, is currently ranked 43rd and needs to climb around 10 places to be seeded for Wimbledon, looking to build on his clay-court victory at Aix-en-Provence Challenger earlier this year – his first title since 2019.
The Surbiton Trophy is another Challenger event and gave Murray a chance to get into his stride against his South Korean opponent.
Chung reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2018, beating Novak Djokovic en route, but has struggled with his own fitness issues in recent years.
A fine ace in the third game was the first glimpse of Murray ratcheting up through the gears and his first break followed a game later.
The gulf between the pair began to show as the opening set progressed, Murray taking it 6-3 with his fifth ace.
There were also signs of the vintage Murray – arguing more than one line call with the umpire and chuntering away to himself when missing shots he felt should have landed.
A brief collective holding of breath from the small crowd followed Murray taking a tumble over an advertising board at the start of the second set but he dusted himself off to take the game on his fourth break point courtesy of a double-fault from Chung.
Largely untroubled on his own serve, Murray – a semi-finalist in Surbiton 12 months ago – broke for a second time in the seventh game and wrapped up a comfortable win.
