Andy Murray raises Nottingham Open final fears as he eyes second straight title

Andy Murray has admitted that he will be wary of facing Arthur Cazaux when he goes up against the young Frenchman in the Nottingham Open final on Sunday afternoon. Murray, who triumphed in Surbiton last week after winning in Aix-en-Provence in May, is hoping to clinch his second straight title this weekend as he bids to earn a Wimbledon seeding by breaking into the world’s top 32.

The Scot managed to reach the final in Nottingham by cruising past Nuno Borges in straight sets on Saturday and will do battle with Cazaux, who is ranked 181st in the world, for the grand prize on Sunday. Murray revealed after his semi-final victory that he has recently been training with the Montpellier native, who he believes will know more about his style of play than the other way around.

“I actually practiced with him a few weeks ago, he’s a top young French player,” said Murray in his on-court interview following his win over Borges.

“It will be a good one. I’ve played a lot of youngsters recently and it’s always tough to play against them. When I was that age playing against more experienced players you’d watch them playing on TV and you’d know their games a little bit and understand how to play against them.

JUST IN: Raducanu told ‘try and practice a bit more’ by kid as young stars roast Brit

“Some of the young guys that have just come out of juniors, it’s my first time seeing them and it’s tricky, but we did get to practice with each other a few weeks ago so hopefully not too many surprises.”

It remains to be seen whether Murray will be able to get the job done against Cazaux on Sunday, with the two-time Wimbledon champion aiming to fine-tune his preparations for a return to the All England Club later this month. He has played a large number of matches over the last few weeks but went on to play down the notion that he could be putting himself at risk of an injury or burnout ahead of the next Grand Slam on the calendar.

“Today’s match was an hour and a quarter and was not a particularly physical match,” added Murray, who will need to pick up more wins at Queen’s Club next week to earn a Wimbledon seeding.

“If I was training at Queen’s, I would have been on the practice court for a couple of hours today and I would have been in the gym. There’s obviously the mental stress of the matches and competing but quite a few of the matches have been pretty quick. Physically I feel fine just now.”

Follow our Express Sport page on Instagram here.