Andy Murray overcame some sloppy serving to clinch a straight sets victory over veteran Thomas Johansson 6-4 6-4 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

Murray struggled with his serve throughout and was broken on 3 occasions despite serving at 62% first serves he only managed to win 71% of those points and only win 31% of second serves. Murray though was down a double break in the second set and yet he battled through breaking the Swede in 5 times. After the match Murray said.

I was happy with the way I came back, Thomas is tough on hard courts, so I knew I’d have to up my game especially in the second set when I went behind. 

Andy Murray and Brother Jamie are both Olympic bound and are competing together in the doubles here at the Rogers Cup. Murray added

I’m looking forward to the Olympics – it’s going to be a great experience, I like playing indoors, I’ve won four out of my five tournaments indoors.

Andy Murray will next paly Stanislas Wawrinka, and after that he has a doubles match with brother Jamie, against second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.

On the other side of the draw Roger Federer opened his hard court season with a loss, he crashed out to unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, 2-6 7-5 6-4 in the second round.

Federer’s number 1 spot will now be at real risk as he made the finals here last year, though because of a change in schedule to accommodate the Olympics, Federer will not lose his points gained here last year until the second week of August (the week when the tournament was played last year).

If Rafael Nadal can win this week, he will effectively cut the gap to 300 points, this was 1,445 points in January. With the Masters event in Indianapolis and the US open coming up, both these tournaments won by Federer, anything less than a win in both these events will likely see Nadal gain that top spot. Though even winning the events will not guarantee that Federer will stay number 1.

Andy Murray will face Swedish veteran Thomas Johansson today at the Rogers Cup in his second round match in the Toronto masters event. The match is due on court around 3pm Eastern time (approx 8PM UK Time) – though rain delays are expected in Toronto and may push this starting time back.

This will be Murray’s first competitive singles match since losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarter finals of Wimbledon earlier this month. Murray was given a bye in the first round for being one of the top eighth seeds, though Murray was able to get some vital competitive play in yesterday as he and brother Jamie won their opening match in the doubles event.

Murray and Johansson have met twice previously, famously in 2005 at Queens, when a young debuting Andy Murray lost his fitness battle and the three set match to Johansson, The story was very different earlier this year when Murray won in straight sets, 7-6, 6-0.

The Bookmakers have Murray as overwhelming favorite to win the match, with the best odds as usual at Betfair, who are still offering a £25 free bet for new sign ups.