The match lasted 83 minutes
The 5th seeded Gilles Muller won his first game at Garanti Koza Sofia Open 2017. The Luxembourg lefthander, who reached the semifinals last year in Sofia, rallied to win against the qualifier Mathias Bourgue 6:3, 6:2. The match lasted 83 minutes. Muller hit 17 aces and made 4 double faults. Mathias entered the draw after winning two games in the qualifying round. He ended the match with only 2 aces and couldn’t win any of his six chances for break point.
“The tournament this year is stronger. The draw is stronger. I like it. I am back here – this is always a good sign. It is the first round but so far everything has been great”, said Muller after the win. In January, he won his first ATP World Tour title in Sydney.
Asked if there is much pressure on him now, he said: “I don’t know how it will feel like with more crowd. I am only focusing on my next match. It is going to be tough one – may be against Mikhail Youzhny. He is good player. He already won some matches. It is never easy to play against him. Today it looked pretty easy. But I think it was not. I had to save a lot of break points. Everybody here is dangerous, everybody is playing well. So I think there is no need to look too far ahead in the future.Obviously I am here to win. That is for sure. But I am like the other 27 players. Everybody here would like to win. So, like I said – it is very important to focus on the next challenge. Every match is tough.”
