Andy Murray will face former world No1 Daniil Medvedev next at the Miami Open
(Picture: Getty Images)Andy Murray set up a clash with recently deposed world No1 Daniil Medvedev as he came through a tight first set to defeat Federico Delbonis 7-6, 6-1 at the Miami Open overnight.
Murray struggled to gain the ascendancy against his Argentine opponent before rounding off a first set, which was devoid of any breaks of serve, in a tiebreak, 7-4.
That set loss appeared to provoke a capitulation of sorts from Delbonis, who was immediately broken and struggled with his serve for the remainder of the match as Murray upped his aggression.
“It was difficult for me, especially in the first set,” said Murray afterwards. “It was a really tight first set but I did well in the end.
“Both of us served really well in the first set. I just managed to catch a really good return at 5-4 in the tiebreak, a really deep return and managed to get that point. He double-faulted on the set point and that was the key to the match right there.”
It was a first career win for Murray over Delbonis, which is similarly the target against Medvedev, the Russian having won their only previous encounter back in 2019.
“It’s obviously a tough match,” he said of the prospect of taking on Medvedev, who is bidding to wrest back the world No1 spot he recently relinquished to Novak Djokovic. “He’s played extremely well on hard courts the last few years. He deserves to be right up there at the top of the game.
“It’ll be a challenge for me, it’ll be a great test. I’ve got a big training block after this tournament and it’ll be a really good test for where my game’s at and things I need to work on as well against him. So I’m looking forward to that.”
Medvedev has been warned that he potentially faces a Wimbledon ban if he does not publicly denounce Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on the eve of the Miami Open, he said: “I don’t have any response to Wimbledon. Everybody knows what’s happening, so it’s basically impossible to ignore it [the invasion of Ukraine] but I always said everybody has different opinions on different things in the world. I always said I’m for peace.”
