Tennis: Andy Murray announces his intent with his three-set win over Kyle Edmunds.

The 832 seeded Andy Murray overcame his country-mate Kyle Edmunds 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-4 at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Edmunds was seeded fourth at the event and was playing his 37th match of the season whereas for Murray it was the fifth.

Kyle Edmunds missed his chances against Andy Murray.

Kyle Edmunds had taken Andy out at Eastbourne in straight earlier this year and was also dominating in the first here but couldn’t win the tie-break. Andy Murray did not let the second set walloping get him down and closed the third with a cross-court backhand winner on Andy’s serve. Edmunds, however, contributed his mite with a double at 30-30 to give Andy the match point.

Murray expects to gain confidence from this win.

Andy Murray was quick to declare this as his best win since he started playing again this year and hoped it would give him the confidence to play even better moving forward. “Hopefully my body will start to adjust to the matches and realize what it’s supposed to be doing again,” he added.

Is Andy Murray back?

Maybe he is. He, however, certainly feels better this time around. “I felt a lot better in the build-up to this tournament,” Murray said. “Whereas in Eastbourne, anytime Kyle was dictating points I wasn’t tracking enough balls down. I felt a bit slow to the balls. Today I was able to defend and dig up a few more shots. That made a big difference.”

The ranking is not a concern for Andy Murray at this juncture.

Murray, ranked 832, is not overly concerned by his low rank. His focus, he says, is on winning matches and tournaments and to not fuss about rankings at this point.

Conclusion: Whether Andy Murray is back will depend entirely on how well his hip and back can manage the physical rigors of the sport. His game is heavily dependent on his swift movement and the ability to track one more ball which requires him to fit and injury free.