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CHINA OPEN

October 9, 2016

Andy Murray

Beijing, China

A. MURRAY/G. Dimitrov

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It was a tough match. In the second set, Dimitrov broke twice. How did you adjust yourself at that time to win the tiebreak?
ANDY MURRAY: In that game he started slicing a lot of backhands. Threw me off my rhythm a little bit. When he started doing that in the tiebreak, and in the game at 6-5, I changed a couple of things, which worked.

Obviously didn't play the best game there. But the first point was extremely tough, long rally. Had I won that one, maybe the game would have been a little bit easier.

But he made some changes in that game and obviously got the break. I mean, apart from that I played really well.

Q. I don't know if you felt it out on the court, but sitting up there watching it, it was a very cold experience. Grigor said that he had a lot of trouble with his racquet tension because he misjudged the temperature. How did you find that situation?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I mean, I obviously played the match against Kyle and Seppi both indoors. I played my second round and yesterday outdoors. I played in both conditions, and it is different.

But it was really cold tonight, you know, even different to yesterday's match against Ferrer. When we came off the court, we checked, and it said it was six degrees. You wouldn't have played in many colder temperatures than that.

So when the court's that cold, the court surface, the ball bounces much lower, and the balls don't heat up, so they feel almost flat at times. It wasn't easy because we're not used to playing in those conditions really.

But the level of tennis I think, in my opinion, was much better than the match we played a few weeks ago at the US Open. It was probably my best match of the week, I think.

Q. Through the match, there was a close-up on your notes that you were reading. There were some tactical points on what you have to do against Grigor. Also one thing, Stay calm and breathe. Can you explain how those notes are helping.
ANDY MURRAY: I don't like when they go into my bag to look at it because they're personal notes. I try to keep them covered because I want to keep them for me. They're literally standing right there. I don't like that.

But anyway, yeah, I think obviously sometimes when there's pressure, important moments, it can be easy to think about other things or get distracted. Sometimes just at the end of games or at the change of ends, to look and just have some things that help you concentrate on the things that are going to help you win the match rather than something else. You know, I've found that it helps me a little bit, so that's why I do it.

But I don't like when the camera guys go right into my bag to look because it's personal to me. It's not for everyone else to see otherwise I'd stick them up on the umpire's chair so everyone else could see it.

Q. Something like 22 unreturned serves tonight. Grigor even mentioned that he thinks you've been serving fantastic recently. Is that something you've been trying to work on or just feeling really good recently?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, tonight, first set, I didn't serve well on my first serve. I served 30% first serves. It's not easy to win sets at this level serving that low a percentage.

But my second serve tonight was probably the best part of my game. A lot of those unreturned came off second serves. You know, considering the conditions were fairly cold, I was still serving over a hundred miles an hour on some second serves. I felt using good variation on that shot, so I didn't give him a chance to really attack me there, that was probably the thing that I did best tonight.

Q. He mentioned that it seemed like you were serving his body a lot. Was that the game plan going in, trying to jam him?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, on the second serve, like I said, I tried to use variety. I mean, sometimes obviously on the second serve, guys stand closer to the baseline. If you serve a body serve, it can rush them. It puts them in a difficult position.

But also sometimes guys move around on the second serve, so they move their position. Sometimes you might be trying to serve into their backhand or into their forehand. They move a little bit, and it ends up being at their body.

But, yeah, I wanted to use variety on my second serve, not just serving into one spot. I think I did that quite well tonight.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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