Aggressive approach not major worry for Murray

The Japanese player has had a very good start to the year, climbing from outside the top 100 in the rankings to a career high of 68 this week, and he will make his main draw debut at Roland Garros.

On paper it looks a comfortable start for Murray, who has faced Ito once before in a doubles match in Tokyo last year, but his opponent is determined to play his natural attacking game.

Ito said: “He’s a great tennis player. I’ll try to do my best, be aggressive on every point. I played against him once before, in doubles. He has a good serve and is difficult to break. It’s exciting for me.”

Murray is confident he knows what to expect from Ito, although the Japanese player’s game is not one he knows particularly well.

The Scot said: “I have seen his game before and hit balls against him. He’s quite a flat hitter of the ball, a pretty good ball striker. But I haven’t seen him play loads.”

Clay remains the most difficult surface for Murray, who has lost to Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet this season and is yet to get past the last eight of a tournament on the red stuff.

Murray said: “The movement is the thing that always takes me a while to get used to, but normally after a few weeks that’s okay. It’s something I always try to work on a little bit when I’m training.”

Roger Federer described as “pretty incredible” yesterday’s achievement in equalling Jimmy Connors’s record of grand slam match wins at the French Open.

The 16-time slam champion’s 6-2 7-5 6-3 first-round victory over Tobias Kamke was his 233rd in main draw matches – the same mark Connors reached at the US Open in 1992.

Seventh seed Berdych began his campaign with a straightforward 6-3 6-4 6-1 victory over Dudi Sela.