A. MURRAY/N. Almagro
7-6, 6-2


Q. You had the long game early in the second set. After that, you kind of seemed to be able to take control. Does winning a game like that really help you out a lot, give you a boost?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, it's always important, especially when you win a close set. You know, especially when I thought Almagro played very, very well in the first set. If you can get ahead, you know, early in the second, it makes a big difference to I think both players' confidence.
I think his head went down a little bit after that. He struggled on his serve afterwards, and he had been serving great up until then. Made a big difference.

Q. Do you feel you just kicked off where you left off in Montreal, playing at the same level?
ANDY MURRAY: I started to play better as the match went on. It was very fast. Definitely quicker conditions than last week. Took me a few games to get used to that, but I felt comfortable on the ball. I didn't really give him -- apart from the set point he had at 6-5 in the first set, that was the only breakpoint I gave him. I played well on my serve.

Q. It's been seven years since someone has won Canada and Cincinnati. What do you think you have to do to overcome here to pull that off?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, a lot of it's, you know, a physical thing. It's difficult. I played a long final, which was -- I mean, it's just mentally quite tiring as well.
Then you have to obviously get here. I had like an hour, hour and a half to get used to the conditions. A lot of guys that didn't do so well have been here since Friday.
Just gotta try and work your way into the tournament. If you can get yourself into the quarterfinals and semifinals, then you don't feel as tired because you're close to winning the tournament.
So, you know, I'll give it my best shot.

Q. What are the thoughts on the next opponent, Stepanek?
ANDY MURRAY: He's tough. He plays different to a lot of guys on the tour. He's pretty unpredictable and plays serve and volley quite a lot and uses a lot of dropshots and slice. I need to stay focused against him, because he can do some pretty weird stuff on the court and try and put you off your game. So try and focus well.


Q. Is it tough to get used to the humidity here, too?
ANDY MURRAY: Not really, No. Because I trained a lot in Miami before I went to Montreal. Humidity is not a problem.

Q. Did the rain delay affect your play?
ANDY MURRAY: It was quite tough because I had to come out and serve to stay in the set. And also, you know, maybe one of the reasons why his serving went down, from one the end, the sun in that sort of 20 minutes had moved across the court a little bit and was right in your eyes when you were serving from that side where I nearly got broken when I was serving to stay in the set.
So a little bit just on the serve, but once I got the first set, it was fine.


(via ASAP Sports, photo/Getty Images)

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