ANDY MURRAY was today handed the chance of instant revenge for his Qatar Open Final defeat when he was pitted against conqueror Ivan Ljubicic in the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne.
The Dunblane ace lost out 6-4, 6-4 to the Croatian world No.5 in Doha but is in good heart for the eight-player elite tournament, which starts tomorrow, ahead of the Australian Open next week.
He said of reaching the Qatar final and preparing for the first Grand Slam event of the year: "I had a really competitive match with Ivan in the final, and I hope to have my revenge tomorrow, so it will be good.
"This is the first time I'm going to play here. I think it's part of the preparation. I got told that 10 of the last 12 winners of the Australian Open have all played here. So it can't get any better than that."
Things aren't going so well for Spain's world No.2 Rafael Nadal, who had to retire from the Sydney International event with a groin injury when trailing Chris Guccione 6-5 in the first round.
"I will have some treatment on it tomorrow and will hope to be 100% fit for next week," said Nadal.
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