TENNIS in DEPTH.

Andy Murray admitted he was stretched on his return to action as he beat qualifier Tim Smyczek 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles last night.

The match was the world No4′s first since his straight sets defeat to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon semi-final four weeks ago and came just two days after he sacked his coach Miles Maclagan.

It should have been a straight forward assignment for Murray considering that Smyczek is 192 in the rankings and that his win over Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili this week was his first on the ATP Tour.

But the British No1 was forced to dig deep and said: “I’m stiff, I don’t know if it’s the weather or the fact that this is my first match since Wimbledon. It’s to be expected so hopefully it will be okay tomorrow. I hope to have a good run here. There were a lot of long rallies in the first and second sets. Hopefully, it will stand me in good stead.”

Having received a first-round bye, Murray initially showed no signs of rustiness as he broke his American opponent to take a 2-0 lead and then raced through the opening set.

But his serve abandoned him in the second and Smyczek capitalised as he fashioned three break points in game four of the set and duly converted for a 3-1 lead.

Murray broke back immediately and held for 3-3 but the American did not roll over and again established a two-game lead at 5-3.

Again Murray broke back but he simply could not buy a hold with his first-serve percentage for the set down at 42 per cent and again surrendered to allow Smyczek to level the match.

The contest continued in topsy-turvy fashion at the start of the third as the pair traded breaks in the opening two games.

Murray broke again for 2-1 and finally held to give himself a two-game cushion.

From there on he did not look back and broke once more for a 5-2 lead before serving out for a victory, which set up a quarter-final against Alejandro Falla.

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