Tennis: Murray Geared Up for Pless Improvement

Andy Murray believes he will come out firing against Kristian Pless tonight after a stuttering first-round performance at the Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis.

The British No1 needed three sets to see off Canadian Frank Dancevic yesterday, eventually emerging a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 winner. Things looked bleak for the Scot when he was broken by the world No95 at the start of the deciding set, but he dug deep to take the match in one hour and 47 minutes.

Afterwards, Murray admitted he had found it hard to adjust to the conditions in Tennessee following his successful defence of the SAP Open title in San Jose last week. "I only hit about 25 minutes on centre court today and it takes time getting used to the surface," he said. "It's a really different atmosphere in there - low roof and the crowd really near. The ball doesn't fly as much as in San Jose and that took a little bit of getting used to."

The win left Murray just two wins away from improving his current world ranking of 13, but he knows he will face another stern examination against his Pless, whom he beat in three sets on his way to glory in San Jose. A win over the Dane will bring him closer to another SAP Open rematch, with Andy Roddick looking well capable of setting up a second successive semi-final clash after a convincing 6-2, 7-5 win over Swede Thomas Johansson in the first round.

But after his unconvincing win over Dancevic, Murray was more concerned with paying tribute to his obdurate opponent than fretting about the challenges ahead. "Obviously I'm glad to come through but I've got to give him some credit," he said. "I think he missed two first serves in the whole second set. When I lost my serve to the start of the second set I lost my rhythm a little bit and he started playing some really good tennis. But it's all about playing and coming through those matches."