Murray awarded wild card for Nottingham
British No.2 Andy Murray has today (Saturday 17th) been awarded
a wild card into the Red Letter Days Open that starts in Nottingham
on Monday. 19 year-old Murray, whom earlier this year won
the first ATP title of his career, is currently 45 th in the
Indesit ATP entry rankings.
Despite injury forcing yesterday's withdrawal of British
no.1 Greg Rusedski, Murray's confirmation ensures that the
Red Letter Days Open will remain a battle of the Brits with
Alex Bogdanovic (British no.4, world no.138) and Richard Bloomfield,
the British no.7 and world no.260 already announced as wild
cards.
"Andy Murray's decision to compete in the Red Letter
Days Open is fantastic news for the tournament and British
tennis fans" said tournament director, Patrick Hughesman
. "It's obviously disappointing that Greg has had to
withdraw from a tournament where he has won twice before.
We wish him well with his recovery."
Hughesman added: "In addition to having attracted a
formidable singles draw, there's the exciting prospect of
watching British players, Andy Murray, Alex Bogdanovic and
Richard Bloomfield in grass court action. The Red Letter Days
Open already promises to be a real battle of the Brits"
said Hughesman.
Two of the fellow 'young guns' Murray will face at Nottingham
include Richard Gasquet (France, world no.51) the defending
Red Letter Days Open champion and Dmitry Tursunov, the powerful
Russian whom yesterday lost to Tim Henman (GBR) in the quarter-finals
at Queen's.
Over the past 12 months Murray has risen over 300 places
in the world rankings. In February, he achieved the most memorable
win of his career to date when he defeated both world no.5
Andy Roddick (s/f 7-5, 7-5) and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt
2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3) to claim his first ever ATP singles title
in San Jose.
A strong grass-court player, in 2005 Murray memorably reached
the third round (l/ Thomas Johansson, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (5), 5-7)
at the Stella Artois Championships. Subsequently, at The Championships
Wimbledon he took David Nalbandian ( Argentina) to five sets
before being eliminated in the 3 rd round.
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