Former champion Andy Murray takes on Corentin Moutet in the US Open first round. Murray is the world number 37 going into this final Grand Slam of the year. That meant he missed out on being seeded but he avoided meeting one of the top 32 players in the world in round one. That might not be the case in the second round as the scheduled opponents are 19th seeded Grigor Dimitrov or Alex Molcan. It was 11 years ago that Murray won the US Open title but not since 2016 has he got past the third round in New York. Not since 2017 has he reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam. He has shown some good form this year and reached the final in Doha. Keeping fit during a two-week tournament is often his toughest task.
His opponent in this first round is ranked 72nd in the world. In the Live ATP Race (based on ranking points earned this year), he's only 155th, while Murray is in 37th position. The French player prefers clay but did reach the last 16 in New York last year. That's the only time he's made it past the third round of a Grand Slam event. Recent form in Grand Slam tournaments isn't great though with six second round exits in the last seven events. Four recent hard court events have seen him fail to win a main draw match and he's only had four hard court wins all year. We go for Murray to get the win in this match.