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SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 13, 2010

Andy Murray

SHANGHAI, CHINA

A. MURRAY/Y. Bai
6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Maybe I should ask what you thought of your young Chinese opponent today. I'm sure a lot of people would be delighted to know what you thought of him, his prospects maybe.
ANDY MURRAY: I thought he was good. I was told that he'd been out for like 18 months with like a bad illness and some injuries. I mean, I guess he would be inside 400 after this week.
Yeah, I thought he was good. He's only played eight or nine tournaments this year. To be inside 400 is good. If he was from the UK, I'm sure we would be very, very excited about him.

Q. As you said, it seems like you know your opponent a lot. What are his advantages and disadvantages?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, he's talented. He strikes the ball nicely. You know, he could probably get stronger I think, you know, to get a little bit more power behind his shots.
But, I mean, he was fast. He had, you know, solid first serves. He didn't make too many mistakes off his backhand. You know, he could play with a lot of topspin on his forehand. He had a lot of good qualities.

Q. Is it sometimes difficult playing someone you don't know very well or at all, who is ranked so low?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. You know, normally takes a few games - it's quite tough to explain - just to see the way they play a little bit. You know, when I play against guys like Roger or Rafa, I've watched them millions of times on TV, played against them a lot. Although they're great players, you know what to expect a little bit.
Today a little bit unknown. But I started well. Yeah, got off to a pretty quick lead, up 4-Love, so that definitely helped.

Q. I think you know your opponent well enough and his injuries. Could you tell us, have you watched his first match against Stepanek?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I just found out as much information as I could about him. I knew he won a couple of futures tournaments before coming here. Yeah, I knew that he had just come back from quite a serious illness. The friend I'm working with here, he went to watch the match yesterday, so he gave me some tips about his game.
But, yeah, I always try and find out about the guys I'm playing against.

Q. From your perspective, what pleased you most about today's performance?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was good intensity. I moved well from the start of the match. I was hitting the ball very clean. I served pretty well, fairly high percentage of first serves.
Yeah, I felt like I was hitting the ball nice and clean. I didn't feel out of position too often. So that's good.

Q. How did you feel out there physically? You said you were sick before Beijing.
ANDY MURRAY: I felt okay. You know, it just takes a little bit of time to get back to feeling how you would like. I'd still like to feel better. But it was a good start. You know, I felt like I moved quite well. Just need a little bit more endurance I think, which will come with playing more matches.

Q. Who won yesterday evening, Monaco and you or Nadal and your partner?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, you can hear my side and you can ask Rafa later after his match (smiling).
Basically we agreed to play best-of-three. They won the first match. The second match went into extra time, and they decided if it went to penalties, it didn't count because they didn't know how to take penalties. So the match finished as a draw.
They said, Okay, we're not playing. Didn't want to play penalties. We drew the game. I think we won that one because they didn't want to take the penalties. Then we won the third game. Then they wanted to play a fourth one, which they won.
So I think it was 2-All. They think it was 2-1 for them. But we were the better team, so that was the most important thing (smiling).

Q. You're not blaming your partner?
ANDY MURRAY: No, my partner was okay. I did have the weaker partner. Juan Monaco, he was good. Rafa and my partner weren't as good.

Q. You showed the present the fans gave you in Beijing.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I got quite a few.

Q. Is there any other very impressive present that Chinese fans give you?
ANDY MURRAY: The night I arrived here I got given a pen that was made like chopsticks that had some sushi on the end of it, which was a first. It was different. But I like sushi. I just don't write that much.
But that was nice.

End of FastScripts

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