Andy Murray has progressed to the third round of the APT Dubai having defeated Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-3. Despite Murray’s dominant score it was not an easy match for him. He reported afterwards that he had played with a painful ankle and during the early stages of the match he was often finding himself short of breath. For Murray fans that must be more than a little worrying, but Murray dismissed saying that he had neither practiced nor trained very much and that the long rallies had taken it out of him. In the next round he will play either Janko Tipsarevic or Andreas Seppi.
Andy Murray is still the favourite to win the championship and is priced at 5/4 by Stan James.
The current champion Nikolay Davydenko had a very difficult time in his second round match against the Frenchman Florent Serra. He lost the first set 6-7 following a tiebreak and in the second set his serve was nearly broken on several occasions though he managed to hang on and win the next two sets 6-4, 6-1.
Not withstanding this hiccup, Nikolay Davydenko remains the second favourite for the championship at 7/2 with Stan James.
Meanwhile the French Open winner and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, not playing in the tournament due to a damaged knee, has been finding some action elsewhere. He has been shooting a quite edgy video with Shakira, the singer and pop star from Columbia. In the video that goes with her latest release ‘Gypsy’, Shakira, clad in little else other than a semi-transparent scarf, and Nadal hold hands and gaze into each others eyes.
VIP guests at the ATP include many members of the England cricket team. They watched a centre court match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra which Tsonga won before joining tennis players for an open air party on the lawns of the Aviation Club.