Memory of immediate Beijing exit helps spur on Murray

It was exactly three weeks since Murray wept on Centre Court after losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, and the world 
No 1 was in Wawrinka’s box to support his countryman, who is both a friend and a familiar foe of Murray.

The pair, who practised together last week, had met 10 times before, with the British No 1 winning six times, including a five-set epic under the roof at Wimbledon three years ago.

That was the first match to be played entirely under cover, and the roof was on again yesterday as heavy showers played havoc with the schedule on the second day of competition.

Murray lost in the first round in Beijing four years ago to Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei and was determined to do better this time around but Wawrinka, ranked 26th in the world and a former top-10 player, was a very tough first-round opponent.

The 27-year-old is also the reigning Olympic doubles champion with Federer and carried Switzerland’s flag in the opening ceremony on Friday.

There was a huge roar as Murray walked out onto Centre Court, and an even bigger one when he secured the first break of the match in the eighth game with a dinked backhand down the line.

Both players had begun a little tentatively, with Murray distracted by a flickering scoreboard and struggling with his footing, but he improved significantly as the set went on and served it out to love with an ace.

Things got even better for the third seed with another break at the start of the second, his fourth game in a row, and he saved a break point to make that five.

Murray cracked a couple of superb backhand returns as he sought a second break in the seventh game and, although Wawrinka staved off that threat, the end was not long in coming.

The Swiss found himself under pressure again in his next service game and Murray took his second match point when Wawrinka drilled a backhand wide, setting up a second-round meeting for Murray with either Finn Jarkko Nieminen or Somdev Devvarman of India.

It was certainly an impressive start from Murray, whose last shock defeat on a big stage came against Wawrinka in the third round of the US Open in 2010.

The Scot enjoyed the partisan atmosphere on Centre Court and was pleased with the way he improved through the match.

He said: “It was a tough start in both sets. He had some break points early, me too. We couldn’t quite convert. Once I got the break in the first set, I played better and relaxed a little bit.

“The support makes a huge difference. It’s a slightly different crowd to Wimbledon. It’s weird – there are so many colours, there is a lot of noise with the music and stuff when you come out that you don’t get at Wimbledon, which is slightly different.

“I was disappointed with the way I played in Beijing. I didn’t understand what the Olympics meant to me, it was my first time there and I was so excited to be there.

“I know how much that loss hurt me and I wanted to come here as well prepared as I could be and (yesterday) was a good start.”

Elena Baltacha had been the lone British winner on Saturday, a day of nearly but not quite for the host nation. Baltacha, whose father Sergei won a bronze medal in football for the USSR in Moscow in 1980, defeated Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-3 in the first round of the women’s singles.

Szavay has barely played for a year because of back problems and Baltacha took full advantage of her opponent’s rustiness to book a second-round meeting with former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Andy Murray had opened his Olympic campaign in the first round of the men’s doubles with brother Jamie, but they were edged out in a very tight contest against Austrian pair Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya, losing 5-7 7-6 (8/6) 7-5.

Anne Keothavong looked set to pull off the best victory of her career on Centre Court when she took the first set off eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki.

The Dane, was ranked number one at the start of the season and her class eventually proved too much for Keothavong, who went down 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Laura Robson and Heather Watson breezed through the first set of their women’s doubles opener against German fifth seeds Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki and led 4-2 in the second before slipping to a 1-6 6-4 6-3 defeat.

Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming were beaten 7-5 6-3 by France’s Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet.

Women’s third seed Maria Sharapova dispatched Israel’s Shahar Peer 6-2 6-0 in an hour and five minutes.

The Russian is making her Olympic debut and a gold medal would make her only the second woman after Steffi Graf to win a career ‘Golden Slam’, which comprises all four grand slam titles and the Olympics.