Dubai, February 24:

Andy Murray, who injured an ankle while winning the Rotterdam tournament, appeared to have injured it again while reaching the second round of the Dubai Open.

It was an ankle injury which brought the match to end just two points from a conventional finish — though it was not Murray who quit with the problem, but his opponent Sergiy Stakhovsky. It meant Murray’s winning scoreline read 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 5-3.

Earlier, Marin Cilic, ambitious young Croatian who has just broken into the world’s top 20, made a bold escape to reach the second round and maintain his ominously increasing momentum. The 20-year-old was twice within a point of going a set and a break down before surviving 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 against Janko Tipsarevic, the tenacious top 50 Serbian.

Another Croatian seed was not so fortunate.

Ivo Karlovic, the No 7 appeared to have got himself out of trouble twice before going down 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (9/7). He saved two match points when 4-6 down in the final set-tie-breaker and recovered to hold one of his own at 7-6, before Chiudinelli sneaked the result against one of the tour’s best servers.