Murray can win in Melbourne - Roddick

12 April 2012

Andy Murray will head into this year's Australian Open with the praise of former world number one Andy Roddick ringing in his ears as he bids to reach a grand slam final for the first time.

Murray was beaten by Roddick in the semi-finals of the AAMI Classic warm-up tournament in Kooyong this week but is full of confidence having already reached an ATP Tour final in Qatar.

"He is a good player who has got an amazing feel for the game. As opposed to some of us he is a real player, as opposed to just a hitter," Roddick said. "Andy constructs points well and it is always a little bit of a mind game when you play against him because he is pretty tricky out there."

Roddick, who plays French wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round, is convinced he can go one better than his run to the fourth round in Melbourne last year.

He added: "I feel pretty good. It is always difficult to tell how well you are hitting the ball against Andy. I am definitely further ahead in terms of hitting the ball than I was last year."

Murray's own form is sky-high after he started his year with a run to the final of the ExxonMobil Open in Doha, and he admitted he now has designs on the world top 10.

Murray started last year's tournament ranked a relatively lowly 62nd but is now the 15th seed as he heads into his opener against Spaniard Alberto Martin.

Murray said: "I hope I can improve on last year because obviously last year was very successful, but I want to keep getting better. I don't want to stop at 15 in the world, so I can push myself even higher."

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