Andy Murray continued his fine form on grass with a straight-sets victory over Kei Nishikori whilst Novak Djokovic won through against Grigor Dimitrov.
Olympic and US Open champion Murray, who claimed his third Aegon Championships trophy at the Queen’s Club on Sunday, defeated Japan’s Nishikori 6-2 7-6(5) in their exhibition match at the BNP Paribas Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club.
The Scot broke his opponent early on, racing into a 3-1 lead, and, despite losing his serve, went on to wrap up the first set comfortably.
World number 11 Nishikori battled throughout the duration of the second set – opening up a 3-0 advantage – but was unable to keep Murray at bay as the world number two took the set to a tie-break, clinching it 7-5.
World number one Novak Djokovic also enjoyed a victory, beating Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov at The Boodles event at StokePark.
The up-and-coming Dimitrov took it to the Serb from the off and clinched the first set 7-5, but Djokovic was able to fight back, winning 6-3 10-6.
“Everything is going according to plan and hopefully I can get in the best possible shape for the start of Wimbledon,” said Djokovic.
“I know what I need to do in order to adjust from the slowest to the fastest service in a very short period of time.
“There’s no bigger motivation than playing in the most prestigious tournament in the world in our sport, the one that I always dreamed of winning. I won it two years ago and it’s definitely been the highlight of my career. I love playing at Wimbledon.
“Grass is the most special surface we have in the sport; the oldest also. We play on it only a few weeks a year so we better use it wisely. I like playing on it and it makes me aggressive on the court. Hopefully I can raise the level of my game as the tournament goes on.”
