Indian Wells: Murray Breezes Past Albot, Sets Up Clash With Draper

Former world number one Andy Murray wasted no time to see off Moldova's Radu Albot in his second-round match at the Indian Wells.

The Brit won the tie 6-4 6-3 to record his first straight-set win since last October despite the change of opponent in the eleventh hour.

He was supposed to face 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta but the Spaniard picked up a muscle injury and had to withdraw from the tournament.

The change of opponent however did not affect Murray's success as he dominated the encounter from the onset, contrary to the marathon performance he repeatedly produced in the opening weeks of the season.

"I felt very nervous today. I’m not sure exactly why,” the 35-year-old said in his on-court interview. 

“Obviously I’ve played a lot of tennis coming in, maybe I saw it was an opportunity for me. 

"Maybe I wasn’t as well prepared. I’d gone over my strategy and everything with my team to play Carreno Busta and then found out late last night the change of opponent.

"It has been a long time [since winning a match in straight sets], I've had a lot of brutal matches since then.

"Probably some of them I could have finished sooner and probably a bunch of matches I could have lost as well. It was nice to get through this one."

The Scot will next face compatriot Jack Draper in the third round of the competition.

Draper eliminated fellow Brit Dan Evans in the second round after breaking the latter's first two service games and his last two to win 6-4 6-2.

"Playing Dan is a really tough challenge, I think he is one of the best competitors on the tour and he has an awkward style. 

"I knew that coming in and knew he wouldn't want to lose to me," said Draper.