british number one hoping to play as many matches as possible in paris in preparation for london event
Murray targets an extended stay in the French capital
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Andy Murray is hoping a strong run in Paris this week will help him hit top form in time for the ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month.
The prestigious end-of-season tournament at the O2 has been one of the world number four’s prime targets for the season, but a wrist injury which forced him out of action for more than six weeks looked to have put his chances of success on home soil in jeopardy.
He returned to action in Valencia last week and improved throughout the tournament beating Mikhail Youzhny in the final on Sunday to win his sixth title of the year.
He arrived in the French capital on Monday for the final Masters Series event of the season, where he will play James Blake in the second round today.
Murray said: “I wanted to play some matches to get ready for Paris and London and try to finish the year as well as possible.
“But with each match back you gain a bit of confidence and once you get to the latter stages of the tournament you start to believe you have a chance of winning.
“I want to try to play as many matches as possible in Paris so I’m match tight going into London. Last week was a great start and I’ll try to play a few more here.”
The 22-year-old picked up the left wrist injury before the US Open in September and aggravated it in Great Britain’s Davis Cup defeat against Poland, where he played three matches in three days.
But, after missing tournaments in Japan and China, Murray is confident the problem is now behind him.
“I practised for about a week before Valencia and I didn’t have any problems then I played five matches there, which was good, and it’s not been too bad in any of the matches that I’ve played,” he said.
“I’ve been icing it and seeing the physio every day and it’s getting a lot better.”
Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco closed in on spots at the ATP World Tour Finals in London in contrasting fashion at the Paris Masters yesterday.
As the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively, the pair received byes into the second round. Davydenko trounced Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1 while Verdasco took three sets to defeat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
