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[TheMadHatter]

Andy Murray is into the third round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters after Florian Mayer pulled out, citing a rib injury.

Mayer is the second opponent in a week to withdraw against the Brit, who will now face the world number 20 Alexandr Dolgopolov on Thursday for a place in the quarter finals.

The US Open champion had time to gatecrash Novak Djokovic's interview on Grandstand for a quick joke, before getting down to the nitty-gritty of training. Murray will go into the third round encounter having not played since his narrow defeat to Milos Raonic on Saturday.

[Ruthie]

Who is the joker now eh?  Apparently when Andy and Nole were practising together yesterday there were more people watching them than were watching the main matches.
Difficult to know whether the walkover is good or bad for Andy.  Good in that he conserves energy when he looked pretty tired last week;bad that he'll come out cold on a very different surface from that in Tokyo while his opponent will already be two matches in.   At least he was able to practise on the court today when he should have been playing.   

[teejay1]

Hi All,

I missed Djokovic's interview. My sister phones at the worst times, bless her. I might do the rewind thing on Skyplus and see Andy gatecrashing lol.

I think it's hard to know what bearing the walkover for Andy will have against Dolgopolov. To my mind Dolgopolov is up and down anyway. I don't think anyone quite knows from one day to the next what he is going to be like. I've certainly seem him play brilliantly, but I've also seen him being, well, dire. The dire one might not be a bad idea tomorrow, just to get Andy in to the tournament and running.

I prefer this situation, to be honest, than if Andy had played the second round and then had a walkover in the third. If I remember rightly, which I don't always, that happened earlier in the year and didn't help Andy much. I can't remember where it was mind you.

I'm still picking Andy to win, either in straight sets or three, again, depending on whether or not Andy comes out in the mood from the start.

[janetx]

Who is the joker now eh?  Apparently when Andy and Nole were practising together yesterday there were more people watching them than were watching the main matches.
Difficult to know whether the walkover is good or bad for Andy.  Good in that he conserves energy when he looked pretty tired last week;bad that he'll come out cold on a very different surface from that in Tokyo while his opponent will already be two matches in.   At least he was able to practise on the court today when he should have been playing.  

Well I for one would've been clamouring to watch those two...

Go Andy and Nole!

Yes, walkovers and their effects are difficult to gage. But given that Andy played Tokyo, he should be fine and ready to go versus Dolgo. Hope so!!

[teejay1]

That would have been in Miami teejay. It didn't really affect him that much, but then Nadal withdrew in the semis as well, so he went into the final completely cold and got trounced 6-1 in the first set.

I'd rather no withdrawals at all. These early rounds are the sort of matches Andy needs to get into the tournament. Dolgopolov is a bloody hard first match and I'm really uneasy about this one.

Was it Miami? I remember Andy getting to the final there, so in my head it wasn't, but my memory is bad lol.

In the end it's what will be will be, because there's nothing we can do, but I still think a walkover now is better than playing a round, getting in to a rhythm and then having a walkover.

I honestly think Andy will come out raring to go, but we'll see. Since Andy won the USO I've become an optimist lol.

[scotnadian]

Mayer rest for our Andrew.

Yer jokes are getting Mayer corny by the minute.

[Elly]

Bugger!  I was looking forward to this match.  I bet Andy would have preferred to play as well. 

[scotnadian]

  Not sure who is worse - you or him! 

Robbie is peerless.