Murray aims to tame Gulbis power

Cincinnati Masters - Murray v Gulbis
Date: 19 August, 1700 BST
Coverage: Live on Sky Sports, live text commentary on BBC Sport website and updates on BBC Radio 5 live

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Murray has dropped just one set in four previous meetings with Gulbis

Andy Murray will try to extend his winning streak to seven matches when he takes on big-hitting Latvian Ernests Gulbis in Cincinnati on Thursday.

The Briton, seeded four, came through his opening match against Jeremy Chardy of France in three sets on Wednesday.

Murray won the Masters 1000 title in Toronto last week but was below his best against Chardy and expects a tough test from Gulbis, the world number 27.

"He's got a big game, similar to Chardy in many ways," Murray told BBC 5 live.

"I'm going to have to return well, play a solid match and try and keep him moving because when he's dictating the match he plays very, very well."

Murray had his serve broken four times in a scrappy second set against Chardy before dominating the decider, and he put that inconsistency down in part to a faster court surface than in Toronto last week.

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"It's very, very quick here," added the 23-year-old Scot. "It seems to me a lot quicker than it was in previous years.

"The practice courts are absolute lightning and the match court is quick too, so very different to Toronto, but I've played well here before so maybe it just takes a little bit of time to get used to."

Murray has beaten Gulbis in all four of their previous meetings but the 20-year-old Latvian has shown signs of fulfilling his undoubted promise this year, with a victory over Roger Federer in Rome the highlight.

Federer will be among those in third-round action in Cincinnati on Thursday when he takes on Philipp Kohlschreiber, with Rafael Nadal up against Julien Benneteau and Novak Djokovic facing David Nalbandian.

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