• Dubai Championships

Murray edges through in Dubai but Ward falls at first hurdle

Andy Murray is into the second-round of the Dubai Championships with a 6-4 7-5 win over Gilles Muller.

The only slight blip for the new world number three came when he was broken the first time he served for the match but he quickly put it behind him to clinch victory in an hour and 45 minutes.

Muller withstood strong pressure from Murray to hold serve in a third game that lasted almost 20 minutes but the Scot broke through two games later. After Murray missed a chance to lead 5-2, Muller threatened to recover the break but could not take advantage of opportunities in the eighth and 10th games as the opening set slipped away.

Andy Murray is through, but it wasn't as comfortable as he would have liked © Getty Images

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Murray took a firm grip on the match in the third game of the second set, his ball-striking looking particularly sharp, and seemed set to clinch victory when he served for it at 5-4. But a double fault proved costly as Muller benefited from two net cords to break back.

But Murray moved ahead again straight away and made no mistake serving for the match a second time.

Murray, the new world No.3, next plays Portugal's Joao Sousa, who he has beaten in straight sets in all four of their previous meetings, most recently at last month's Australian Open.

Murray is Britain's last representative in Dubai, however, after James Ward fell to Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-4.

Ward came through qualifying to reach the main draw but could not pull off the upset against the world number 13 and was left to rue eight missed break points.

Londoner Ward will now begin his preparations for next weekend's Davis Cup clash against the USA in Glasgow having on Tuesday been named alongside Murray and brother Jamie in the Great Britain team.

Novak Djokovic made light work of Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4 6-4 in the evening game, while earlier in the day, Tomas Berdych, knocked out by Murray at last month's Australian Open, edged Jeremy Chardy 7-6(2) 6-4.

Elsewhere, eighth-seed David Goffin was ousted by former top-10 player Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 7-5, while Roger Federer's run in the doubles ended at the first hurdle when he and Swiss partner Michael Lammer fell 6-4 7-6(12) to second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Novak Djokovic is also in first-round action on Tuesday. The world No.1 takes on Canada's Vasek Pospisil at 3pm UK time.

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