Tough test for Murray in Wimbledon opener
Andy Murray will begin his Wimbledon campaign against Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko.
The world number four, who has reached the semi-finals at SW19 for the last three years, has won five of the nine encounters he has had against the 31-year-old Russian, who is a former world number three.
Novak Djokovic begins his title defence with a potentially tricky match against Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero, who is ranked 38th in the world and a former world number one.
Murray has endured a difficult time in the run up to Wimbledon, losing all three matches he has played on grass, and he will have been looking for an easier draw than the incredibly tough one he got this morning.
Despite being six years Murray’s senior, world number 47 Davydenko will present Britain’s number one with an extremely tough task in the first round.
Davydenko won the ATP Tour finals in 2009 and should he beat the Russian, Murray will probably have to overcome the likes of Ivo Karlovic, Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic before meeting Rafael Nadal in the semi-final.
Nadal, meanwhile, will face Brazilian Thomaz Belluci and Roger Federer takes on Albert Ramos.
Jamie Baker comes up against American Andy Roddick while Oliver Golding faces world number 92 Igor Andreev.
As he is in the bottom half of the draw, Murray's game against Davydenko will take place on Tuesday.
In the women’s draw, number one seed Maria Sharapova takes on Anastasia Rodionova of Russia while defending champion Petra Kvitova will face 6ft 3in Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan.
Former champion Venus Williams will play Elena Vesnina in her opening match while her sister Serena takes on Barbora Strycova.
Laura Robson, who reached the second round last year, takes on world number 26 Francesca Schiavone.
Anne Keothavong will be confident of beating world number 100 Laura Pous-Tio and Elena Baltacha will also fancy her chances against Karin Knapp, who is ranked 109 in the world.
Heather Watson, who went out in the first round last year thanks to an elbow injury, takes on world number 52 Iveta Benesova while wildcard entrant Johanna Konta faces America’s Christina McHale.
Naomi Broady, who lost to Keothavong here last summer, takes on Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino.
Click to stay connected with
more stories like this:
more stories like this:
